Modular hearing assistance device

ABSTRACT

A hearing assistance device is described that includes: a behind-ear portion including a rechargeable energy source and a processor. The hearing assistance device further includes an in-ear portion including a processor, a microphone, and a speaker. The hearing assistant device further includes a tether configured to transmit electrical energy from the rechargeable energy source to the in-ear portion and communicatively couple the processor of the behind-ear portion with the processor of the in-ear portion. processor of the behind-ear portion and the processor of the in-ear portion communicate via the tether using a first communication protocol and the processor of the behind-ear portion and a processor of an external computing device communicate outside the tether using a second communication protocol that is different than or same as the first communication protocol.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/636,551, filed Feb. 28, 2018, the entire content of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to hearing assistance devices such as hearingaids, wireless ear-buds, head-sets, and other devices for hearing sound.

BACKGROUND

Some hearing assistance devices (also commonly referred to as “hearingaids” and “hearing instruments”) include additional features beyond justenvironmental sound-amplification. For example, some modern hearingassistance devices include advanced audio processing for improved devicefunctionality, controlling and programming the devices, and beamforming,and some can even communicate wirelessly with external devices includingother hearing aids (e.g., for streaming media). As hearing assistancedevices perform more complex operations, their use can quickly deplete atypical, disposable power source (e.g., zinc-air primary-cell battery)or rechargeable power source, resulting in a user having to frequentlydispose of, and replace and recharge, dead batteries. Because hearingimpaired users depend on their hearing assistance devices to performessential life tasks, users may not be able to go without their hearingassistance devices in the case of a depleted power source. Furthermore,having to frequently swap out a depleted power source, particularly forsomeone with reduced finger dexterity, can be challenging and tedious.

SUMMARY

In one example, a hearing assistance device includes a behind-earportion comprising a rechargeable energy source and at least oneprocessor. The hearing assistance device further includes an in-earportion including: at least one processor, a microphone, and a speaker.The hearing assistant device further includes a tether configured totransmit electrical energy from the rechargeable energy source to thein-ear portion and communicatively couple the at least one processor ofthe behind-ear portion with the at least one processor of the in-earportion. The at least one processor of the behind-ear portion and the atleast one processor of the in-ear portion communicate via the tetherusing a first communication protocol and the at least one processor ofthe behind-ear portion and at least one processor of an externalcomputing device communicate outside the tether using a secondcommunication protocol that is different than or same as the firstcommunication protocol.

In another example, a method includes communicating, by a behind-earportion of a hearing assistance device of a hearing assistance system,with an in-ear portion of the hearing assistance device and via a tetherthat communicatively couples the behind-ear portion to the in-earportion of the hearing assistance device to the in-ear portion of thehearing assistance device, first data. The first data is communicatedaccording to a first communication protocol. The method further includescommunicating, by the behind-ear portion, with at least one externalcomputing device and outside the tether, second data. The second data iscommunicated according to a second communication protocol that isdifferent than or same as the first communication protocol.

In another example, a method includes receiving, by an in-ear portion ofa hearing assistance device, from a behind-ear portion of the hearingassistance device, first data. The method further includes performing,by the in-ear portion, an operation, generating, by the in-ear portion,second data in response to performing the operation, and sending, by thein-ear portion, to the behind-ear portion, the second data.

The details of one or more aspects of the disclosure are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the techniques described in this disclosurewill be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example hearing assistancesystem, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 2A through 2D are conceptual diagrams illustrating an examplehearing assistance system, in accordance with one or more aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example portable case forstoring and charging behind-ear portions of an example hearingassistance device, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example hearing assistancedevice, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example tether forcoupling a behind-ear portion of an example hearing assistance device toan in-ear portion of the example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A through 6C are conceptual diagrams illustrating examplebehind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating example operations performed by anexample hearing assistance system, in accordance with one or moreaspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 8A through 8C are conceptual diagrams illustrating some exampleretention structure arrangements of a portable case for storing andcharging behind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 9A through 9D are conceptual diagrams illustrating examplebehind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 10A through 10G are conceptual diagrams illustrating an examplesequence for swapping out a behind-ear portion of an example hearingassistance device for a different behind-ear portion that is seated inan example portable, in accordance with one or more aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustrating an example portable case for storingand charging behind-ear portions of an example hearing assistancedevice, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 12A through 12D are conceptual diagrams illustrating variousarrangements of retention structures of an example portable case, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one example, this disclosure relates to a modular hearing assistancedevice (also referred to herein as a “hearing aid” or “hearinginstruments”) that relies on a combination of one or more behind-earportions configured as rechargeable power sources that may also provideadditional device functionality. In addition, the disclosure describesexamples of a portable case that may store the behind-ear portions,charge the behind-ear portions that are configured as rechargeable powersources, and/or perform other tasks on behalf of the hearing assistancedevice and a user. The described hearing assistance device may have, insome examples, attachment features that enable the behind-ear portionsto quickly and easily attach or detach to in-ear components of thehearing assistance device, for example, to swap out a depleted powersource, or to tailor the hearing assistance device for a particularsituation. These features may eliminate some of the difficulty usershave in replacing traditional power sources. In some examples, similarattachment features of the portable case also may enable the behind-earportions to quickly and easily detach or attach to charging retentionstructures of the portable case, also in a way that is user friendly.

In this way, the described modular hearing assistance device andportable case may together provide a seemingly endless, and morereliable, user experience. In some examples, the modular hearingassistance device can be customized by a user by simply swapping out onetype of behind-ear portion for a different type of behind-ear portion.In an example in which the portable case contains a supply ofeasily-swappable and recharged power sources, a user can enjoy all theadvanced features provided by a sophisticated hearing assistance device,without worrying about running out of power. In addition, in someexamples, the attachment features of the hearing assistance device andportable case may be configured to greatly reduce the frustration andanxiety experienced by some users from having to frequently swap out atraditional power source.

Although described primarily from the perspective of hearing assistancedevices or hearing assistance systems, the described techniques areapplicable to other types of “hearables”. For example, the describedtechniques are applicable to a hearing assistance device, a hearinginstrument, a hearing aid, a personal sound amplification product(PSAP), a headphone set, an earbud, a wireless ear-bud, or other hearinginstrument that provides sound to a user for hearing.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example hearing assistancesystem, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure. System 100 of FIG. 1 includes hearing assistance device(HAD) 102 communicatively coupled via network 105 to portable case 104and one or more computing devices 101. It should be understood thatsystem 100 is only one example of a hearing assistance system accordingto the described techniques. System 100 may include additional or fewercomponents than those shown in FIG. 1.

Computing devices 101 may include a single electronic computing deviceor combination of two or more electronic computing devices, and mayinclude: a hearing assistance device programmer (e.g., a device used bya medical professional to calibrate, change parameters, or otherwiseconfigure HAD 102 and/or portable case 104 according to a treatment planor treatment protocol), one or more mobile computing devices (e.g., amobile phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, automobile computer, orother mobile device), one or more wearable computing devices (e.g., acomputerized watch, computerized glasses, and the like), one or moreserver devices, one or more server blades, one or more personalcomputers, one or more content delivery network devices, and any othertypes of mobile, non-mobile, or wearable computing devices. Thus, ingeneral, descriptions in this disclosure of computing devices 101performing particular actions may be interpreted as some combination ofone or more mobile, non-mobile, or wearable computing devices performingthe particular actions.

Network 105 represents any public or private communications network, fortransmitting data between computing systems and computing devices. Forexample, HAD 102, portable case 104, and computing devices 101 maycommunicate with each other via network 105. Computing devices 101, HAD102, and portable case 104 may exchange data across network 105 usingany suitable communication techniques. Network 105 may include acellular communication network, such as a 3G network, 4G LTE network, a5G network, or other cellular communication network using another typeof wireless communication technology. Network 105 may include ashort-range communication network, such as Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi®, or othertype of communication network including direct-connections, such asWi-Fi® direct and inferred direct communication networks. Network 105may include or be communicatively coupled to the Internet or other typesof networks, both personal and private. Network 105 may include one ormore network hubs, network switches, network routers, or any othernetwork equipment, that are operatively inter-coupled thereby providingfor the exchange of information between components of system 100.Computing devices 101, HAD 102, and portable case 104 may each beoperatively coupled to network 105 using respective network links. Thelinks coupling computing devices 101, HAD 102, and portable case 104 tonetwork 105 may be Ethernet or other types of network connections; suchconnections may be wireless and/or wired connections.

HAD 102 is primarily configured to provide sound to a user for hearing.As the term is used herein, a hearing assistance device, a hearingdevice, and a hearing instrument may each be a hearing aid, a personalsound amplification product (PSAP), a headphone set, a hearable, anearbud, a wireless ear-bud, or other hearing instrument that providessound to a user for hearing. A single HAD 102 may be worn by a user withunilateral hearing loss. In the case of a user with bilateral hearingloss, two hearing instruments, such as HAD 102, are worn by the user,with one instrument in each ear.

While similar to other types of hearing instruments in that they eachprovide sounds to a user for hearing, a hearing assistance device, ahearing device, and a hearing instrument are specifically tailored toprovide sounds to the user that help him or her overcome a hearingimpairment. That is, a hearing assistance device, a hearing device, anda hearing instrument may have different configurations for differentlistening environments, or perform real-time speech detection and/orenhancement, as an alternative, or in addition, to providing otherhearing capabilities (e.g., for listening to music) that do notspecifically address a hearing impairment.

In general, there are three types of hearing assistance devices. A firsttype of hearing instrument includes a housing or shell that is designedto be worn in the ear for both aesthetic and functional reasons andenclose the electronic components of the hearing instrument. Suchdevices may be referred to as in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC),completely-in-the-canal (CIC), or invisible-in-the-canal (IIC) hearinginstruments. Some in-the-ear hearing instruments have limitedcapabilities due to their small size and limited volume for housingelectronics and power sources. Examples of drawbacks of IIC devicesinclude a shortened battery life, lower fit rates due to the volume ofcomponents to be placed in the canal, lack of wireless features likeprogramming and audio streaming, no telecoil, and patient frustrationwith changing batteries.

A second type of hearing instrument, referred to as a behind-the-ear(BTE) hearing instrument, includes a housing worn behind the earcontains all of the electronic components of the hearing instrument,including the receiver (i.e., the speaker). The receiver conducts soundto an earbud inside the ear via an audio tube.

Lastly, a third type of hearing instrument, referred to as areceiver-in-canal (MC) hearing instrument, has a housing worn behind theear that contains all of the electronic components except for thereceiver, which is worn in the ear canal. The output state of a RIChearing instrument is electrically connected to the receiver worn in theear canal.

Some traditional BTE and MC devices have limitations such as antenna andtelecoil interference with radio circuitry, fixed battery life, fixedsize and color, more limited microphone directionality than ITE devices,patient frustration with changing batteries, and inability to change-outrechargeable batteries. These traditional BTE and MC devices may alsosuffer from mechanical failures of battery doors, including: casegaps/ingress points, mechanical failure of the battery door part, poordetents making the off position hard to recognize, an open battery doorcausing the microphone cover to fall off, battery contact intermittency,and battery contact bending or breakage.

In the example of FIG. 1, HAD 102 is primarily configured as a MChearing instrument and includes its electronic components distributedacross three main portions: behind-ear portion 106A, in-ear portion 108,and tether 110. In operation, behind-ear portion 106A, in-ear portion108, and tether 110 are physically and operatively coupled together toprovide sound to a user for hearing. Behind-ear portion 106A and in-earportion 108 may each be contained within a respective housing or shell.The housing or shell of behind-ear portion 106A allows a user to placebehind-ear portion 106A behind his or her ear whereas the housing orshell of in-ear portion 108 is shaped to allow a user to insert in-earportion 108 within his or her ear canal.

In-ear portion 108 is mainly used by HAD 102 for sound amplification andfor outputting the amplified sound via an internal speaker (alsoreferred to as a receiver) to a user's ear. That is, in-ear portion 108receives sound waves from the environment and converts the sound into aninput signal. In-ear portion 108 may amplify the input signal using apre-amplifier, may sample the input signal, and may digitize the inputsignal using an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter to generate adigitized input signal. Audio signal processing circuitry of in-earportion 108 may process the digitized input signal into an output signal(e.g., in a manner that compensates for a user's hearing deficit).In-ear portion 108 then drives an internal speaker to convert the outputsignal into an audio output.

Behind-ear portion 106A is a modular component of HAD 102 and isprimarily configured to contain a rechargeable power source thatprovides electrical power, via tether 110, to in-ear portion 108. Insome examples, in-ear portion 108 includes its own power source, andbehind-ear portion 106A supplements the power source of in-ear portion108.

Behind-ear portion 106A may include various other components, inaddition to a rechargeable power source. For example, behind-ear portion106A may include a radio or other communication unit to serve as acommunication link or communication gateway between HAD 102 and theoutside world. Such a radio may be a multi-mode radio or a softwaredefined radio configured to communicate via various communicationprotocols. That is, behind-ear portion 106A may include communicationcomponents for communicating on network 105 on behalf of HAD 102 or forcommunicating directly with other hearing assistance devices. Inaddition to sometimes serving as a communication gateway, behind-earportion 106A may perform various other advanced functions on behalf ofHAD 102; such other functions are described below with respect to theadditional FIGS.

Behind-ear portion 106A may be customizable. For example, behind-earportion 106A may be made-up of one or more sub-portions that when matedtogether to form behind-ear portion 106A, perform the operationsdescribed herein with respect to behind-ear portion 106A. A user may mixand match different sub-portions to customize behind-ear portion 106Adepending on the hearing needs of the user.

Behind-ear portion 106A may be similar or identical to any one ofbehind-ear portions 106B-106N that are shown in FIG. 1 being stored inportable case 104. In other words, a user may separate behind-earportion 106A from tether 110 and exchange behind-ear portion 106A forany one of behind-ear portions 106B-106N. Behind-ear portions 106A-106Nare referred to collectively as behind-ear portions 106.

Tether 110 forms one or more electrical links that operatively andcommunicatively couple behind-ear portion 106A to in-ear portion 108.Tether 110 may be configured to wrap from behind-ear portion 106A (e.g.,when behind-ear portion 106A is positioned behind a user's ear) above,below, or around a user's ear, to inside-ear portion 108 (e.g., wheninside-ear portion 108 is located inside the user's ear canal). Whenphysically coupled to in-ear portion 108 and behind-ear portion 106A,tether 110 is configured to transmit electrical power from behind-earportion 106A to in-ear portion 108. Tether 110 is further configured toexchange communication signals between portions 106A and 108. Asdescribed below with respect to the additional FIGS., tether 110 may actas a handle or carrying mechanism for a user to hold HAD 102 when theuser of HAD 102 removes portions 106A and 108 from his or her body orwhen swapping out one behind-ear portion 106 for a different behind-earportion 106.

Behind-ear portions 106 may include mechanical and/or magneticattachment features that enable behind-ear portions 106 to quickly andeasily couple or decouple with tether 110 and in-ear portion 108, forexample, to swap out one of behind-ear portions 106 that has a depletedpower source, for a different one of behind-ear portions 106 that has acharged power source. Small electrical connectors and tiny cables arereplaced with mechanical and/or magnetic attachment features that mayeliminate some of the difficulty users have in replacing traditionalpower sources, such as disposable batteries, used in other hearingassistance devices. In addition, similar mechanical and/or magneticattachment features may also enable release or coupling of tether 110and in-ear portion 108.

In addition to exchanging behind-ear portions 106 when a power source isdepleted, a user may wish to swap one behind-ear portion 106 for anotherto customize or tailor HAD 102 for a particular situation. For instance,behind-ear portion 106A may include a Bluetooth radio for receiving aBluetooth audio stream (e.g., being output by computing devices 101 orportable case 104) and behind-ear portion 106B may include, in place ofthe Bluetooth radio, a Wi-Fi radio for instead receiving informationbeing transmitted over a Wi-Fi network. Other examples of radiotechnology may be used, for example, behind-ear portion 106A may includea cellular radio for transmitting and receiving telephony data and/orcellular data.

Portable case 104 is an example of a portable apparatus (e.g., meant tofit in a user's hand or pocket) which is used for storing and chargingone or more modular, behind-ear portions of an example hearingassistance device, such as behind-ear portions 106 of HAD 102. In someexamples, portable case may be configured to store and charge multiplebehind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, such asbehind-ear portions 106 of HAD 102. In addition, portable case 104 mayprovide additional advanced functionality to system 100, beyond juststoring and charging power sources of behind-ear portions 106. Forinstance, other functions may include wired or wireless charging of theinternal power source of portable case 104, remote control of hearingaid device HAD 102 (e.g., via controls on portable case 104), audiorecording or wirelessly transmitting audio to HAD 102 via a remotemicrophone inside portable case 104, and facilitating wirelesscommunication, via network 105, between portable case 104, computingdevices 101, HAD 102, and other hearing assistance devices not shown.

Portable case 104 may come in a variety of different shapes and sizesthat are suitable for carrying in a person's hand, securing to aperson's body, or stowing in a clothes pocket or other secure location.In some examples, portable case 104 may be approximately four cubicinches or less, for instance, two inches wide by two inches tall, bythree quarter inches deep, as one example. In some examples, portablecase 104 may be greater than four cubic inches or less, for instance,three inches wide by two or three inches tall, by one inch deep, as oneexample. One dimension (i.e., height, width, or depth) could bedecreased to accommodate an increase in another dimension to causeportable case 104 to have a different shape, without increasing volumeor sacrificing portability. For instance, portable case 104 may be oneand a half inches tall by one and a half inches wide by two inches deep,as one example. In other examples, portable case 104 may be spherical,cylindrical, conical, or have some other shape. For example, portablecase 104 may be a four inch diameter disk shape that is a half inchthick.

In some cases, portable case 104 is configured to retain only behind-earportions 106 of HAD 102 during storing and/or charging and not retaintether 110 and/or in-ear portion 108 during storing and charging. Inthis way, portable case 104 may conveniently provide a way for a user toswap out one behind-ear portion 106 for a different behind-ear portions106 without having to swap out in-ear portion 108. Such a configurationmay provide a more convenient user experience and also help ensureportable case 104 and behind-ear portions 106 (which do not enter auser's ear canal and are therefore less susceptible to contaminants fromregular use) remain clean and sanitary. In addition, by retaining onlybehind-ear portions 106, the overall size of portable case 104 can bereduced by an amount at least proportional to a size of in-ear portion108. In addition, in-ear portion 108 may be used by itself providingadditional benefits. That is, hearing aid wearers sometimes feelstigmatized by having to wear a device which reveals their handicap. Soit may be convenient for a wearer to sometimes remove behind-earportions 106 to better conceal HAD 102 by only having to wear in-earportion 108.

Of course, in other examples, portable case 104 is configured to retainall of HAD 102 during storing and/or charging. For example, portablecase 104 may accommodate each of behind-ear portions 106, tether 110,and in-ear portion 108 simultaneously, for example, when a user issleeping or traveling, portable case 204 may be configured to retaineach part of HAD 102.

Portable case 104 may act as a radio for sending or receivingcommunications. Such a radio may be a multi-mode radio or a softwaredefined radio configured to communicate via various communicationprotocols. Portable case 104 may act as an audio controller that scansfor wireless audio broadcasts (e.g., AM/FM radio, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,cellular, or other audio broadcasts) and may alert or otherwise output anotification to inform a user of potential audio sources (e.g., viaaudible, tactile, or visual alerts). Further, portable case 104 mayprovide the user a way to select a desired audio broadcast (e.g., usingcontrols built into the case, hand gestures, or voice input). Whileportable case 104 may provide several advanced capabilities to system100, portable case 104 may further enable HAD 102 to perform variousadvanced functions, for example, by offloading processing on behalf ofHAD 102 to implement digital signal processing, speechrecognition/language translation, artificial intelligence, or otheradvanced functions.

As shown in FIG. 1, portable case 104 includes one or more retentionstructures 112A-112N (collectively “retention structures 112”). Each ofretention structures 112 is configured to retain an individualbehind-ear portion of an example hearing assistance device, such asbehind-ear portion 106A of HAD 102. For instance, retention structure112B is shown storing behind-ear portion 106B and retention structure112N is shown in FIG. 1 storing behind-ear portion 106N.

As used herein, the term “retention structure” refers to a cavity, ahole, an aperture, a recess, a groove, a slot, a space inside aretaining wall of a housing, or any other form of retention structure.In some examples, other features are included in a retention structureor other embodiments are possible. For example, the retention structuremay be a retention area, or mounting area. In such an example, ratherthan insert behind ear portions 106 inside retention structures 112,behind-ear portions 106 may be inserted atop, or next to, retentionstructures 112. In other words, while described primarily as holding orretaining behind-ear portions 106, in some cases, retention structures112 simply receive (but not necessarily tightly hold) behind-earportions 106.

While a primary function of retention structures 112 may be storageindividual behind-ear portions 106 when behind-ear portions 106 arenot-in-use, each of retention structures 112 can also serve a dualpurpose. For example, each of charging retention structures 112 may beconfigured to charge the rechargeable power source (e.g., a rechargeablebattery) contained inside each of behind-ear portions 106. For example,charging circuitry of portable case 104 (not shown in FIG. 1) willcharge the power source of behind-ear portion 106B when behind-earportion 106B is placed inside retention structure 112B. Retentionstructures 112 may be mechanical components that receive one or moreelectrical connections (pins, pads, leafs, nodes, etc.) that contactcorresponding electrical connections of behind-ear portion 106B. In somecases, no physical contact between the electrical connections ofretention structures 112 and behind-ear portion 106B are necessary;retention structures 112 may instead be inductively coupled tobehind-ear portion 106B for charging the power source or otherwiseexchanging electrical signals.

Portable case 104 may include any quantity of retention structures 112.In some cases, portable case includes four retention structures 112 sothat at least a first pair of HAD's 102 is always charged while a secondpair is charging and a user is wearing a pair of HAD 102. In some cases,portable case includes two retention structures 112 for charging andstoring a single pair of HADs 102. In other cases, portable case 104includes three or more retention structures 112 for storing extrabehind-ear portions 106.

Behind-ear portions 106 are designed to be user-friendly, particularlyfor someone with impaired finger dexterity or who struggles withchanging batteries in traditional hearing aids. Behind-ear portions 106may be designed such that, when depleted of electrical energy, a userdoes not need to remove the rechargeable power source from inside thehousing of behind-ear portions 106 to charge the power source. A usermay find that gripping a behind-ear portion 106 is easier than holding atraditional, hearing aid battery due to behind-ear portions 106 having alarger, more manageable size.

Rather, behind-ear portions 106 may each include one or more externalcontacts protruding through their external housing. The contacts ofbehind-ear portions 106 are configured to mate with a respective set ofcharging contacts located in any one of retention structures 112 whencharging. The contacts of behind-ear portions 106 are also configured tomate with electrical terminals located at one end of tether 110 whenbeing worn. The contacts may be exposed male bumps or plugs that mateinto female sockets or the contacts may be exposed females sockets thatmate over male bumps or plugs.

Each of retention structures 112 and behind-ear portions 106 may includemechanical and/or magnetic attachment features that improve the strengthof a physical connection between behind-ear portions 106 and thecharging circuitry of portable case 104 and the physical connectionbetween behind-ear portions 106 and tether 110. These attachmentfeatures may eliminate some of the difficulty users have in replacingtraditional power sources. The attachment features also ensure that auser cannot incorrectly seat behind-ear portions 106 inside retentionstructures 112. In some examples, the attachment features may furtherensure that behind-ear portions 106 are correctly mated to tether 110.

FIGS. 2A through 2D are conceptual diagrams illustrating an examplehearing assistance system, in accordance with one or more aspects of thepresent disclosure. FIGS. 2A through 2D are described in the context ofsystem 100 of FIG. 1. For instance, portable case 204 of systems 200Aand 200B are an example of portable case 104 of FIG. 1 and HAD 202,202A, and 202B are each an example of HAD 102 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2A shows an example of system 200A which includes portable case 204and hearing assistance device 202 (referred to simply as “HAD 202”).FIG. 2B shows an example of system 200B, as an alternate view of system200A, after tether 210 has been detached from behind-ear portion 206A.FIG. 2C shows HAD 202A as an example of HAD 200 from FIGS. 2A and 2B.HAD 202A includes behind-ear portion 206A, tether 210, and in-earportion 208. FIG. 2D shows HAD 202B as an example of HAD 200 from FIGS.2A and 2B. HAD 202B omits behind-ear portion 206A and includes onlytether 210 and in-ear portion 208.

In the example of FIG. 2A, HAD 202 includes behind-ear portion 206Acoupled to in-ear portion 208 via tether 210. Behind-ear portion 206A ofHAD 202 is housed in a retention structure of portable case 204, forexample, either to be subsequently detached from tether 210 forcharging, or to be removed from portable case 204 via tether 210 to beworn by a user. In addition to storing (and in some instances charging)behind-ear portion 206A, portable case 204 also may charge one or moreother behind ear portions. For example, in FIG. 2A, portable case 204 isalso shown storing and/or charging behind ear portions 206B and 206N.

In FIG. 2B, tether 210 and in-ear portion 208 have been detached frombehind-ear portion 206A. With tether 210 and in-ear portion 208 removed,FIG. 2B clearly shows openings 216 in cover 218 of portable case 204,which are included in cover 218 to enable insertion and removal ofbehind-ear portions 206A, B, and N. Also identified in FIG. 2B areretention structures 212A and 212N; each of retention structures 212Aand 212N is configured to retain one of behind-ear portions 206. As oneexample, retention structure 212N is empty and retention structure 212Aincludes behind-ear portion 206A.

In the examples of each of FIGS. 2A and 2B, portable case 204 isconfigured in a carousel arrangement to facilitate quick and easyexchange of one behind-ear portion 206 for a different behind-earportion 206. In other examples, portable case 204 may be configured in alinear or other such arrangement.

A user may manipulate cover 218 of portable case 204 to expose, viaopenings 216, an individual retention structure 212 or multipleretention structures 212 at a time (e.g., to retrieve a pair ofbehind-ear portions 206). For example, a user may manipulate cover 218to expose, via one of openings 216, retention structure 212A (which isempty at the time). Next, the user may insert behind-ear portion 206Ainto retention structure 212A and detach behind-ear portion 206A fromtether 210. The user may then manipulate cover 218 to cover retentionstructure 212A and expose, via one of openings 216, retention structure212N. Finally, the user may attach behind-ear portion 206N to tether 210and remove behind-ear portion 206N from retention structure 212N.

Although primarily described as being a rotary type cover (e.g., similarto that which may be used for some types of fishing tackle containerssuch as rotary slip shot sinker containers), cover 218 may be a hingetype cover (e.g., similar to a typical dental floss container lid)configured to flip up and down to open and close. Alternatively, cover218 may be configured to slide to open and close. Cover 218 may beconfigured to reveal two or more retention structures 212 at a time(e.g., via openings 216) so multiple behind-ear portions 206 could bechanged without further manipulation of cover 218. Likewise, cover 218may be configured to reveal a single one of retention structures 212 ata time or more than two retention structures 212 at a time.

FIG. 2C shows an example of HAD 202A which includes behind-ear portion206A, tether 210, and in-ear portion 208. FIG. 2D shows an example ofHAD 202B omitting behind-ear portion 206A and including only tether 210and in-ear portion 208.

Various attachment features can be used to attach behind-ear portion206A to portable case 204 and to attach behind-ear portion 206A totether 210. The various attachment features may include mechanicaland/or magnetic components that enable easy (e.g., one-handed) exchangeof behind-ear portion 206A to and from portable case 204 and to and fromtether 210.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 2C and 2D, tether 210 includes attachmentfeature 250 (also referred to as “coupling feature 250”). Attachmentfeature 250 includes is configured to mate with an attachment feature ofbehind-ear portion 206A. When detached from attachment feature 250, theattachment feature of behind-ear portion 206A is configured to mate withone of retention structures 212. Such attachment features may includemechanical and/or magnetic components that enable tether 210 andbehind-ear portion 206A to maintain a strong physical bond when beingworn, enable retention structures 212 and behind-ear portion 206A tomaintain a strong physical bond when behind-ear portion 206A ischarging. Such mechanical and/or magnetic attachment features mayfurther enable behind-ear portion 206A to quickly disconnect fromretention structures 212 and tether 210.

In some examples, a mechanical catch may prevent two parts from beingdetached without sufficient force for overcoming the mechanical catch.And, in the case of a magnetic feature, the attachment features may be amechanically and/or magnetically self-aligning design. That is, toconfigure behind-ear portion 206A for use, a user may simply bringattachment feature 250 near an attachment area of behind-ear portion206A and the magnetic attraction between attachment feature 250 and theattachment area of behind-ear portion 206A may force the two partstogether and enable an electrical connection between the two parts.Similarly, to configure behind-ear portion 206A for storage or chargingin portable case 204, a user may simply position the attachment area ofbehind-ear portion 206A above an empty one of retention structures 212,and the magnetic attraction between the empty retention structure 212and the attachment area of behind-ear portion 206A may allow a user tosimply drop behind-ear portion 206A into the empty retention structure212 where the electrical contacts of behind-ear portion 206A mayautomatically align with the charging contacts of the empty one ofretention structures 212.

In some cases, the mechanical and/or magnetic attachment featuresdescribed above enable release of their bonds via rotation. That is,with both portable case 204, behind-ear portions 206, and attachmentfeature 250 of tether 210 having magnets or mechanical catches, themagnets and/or mechanical catches can be configured so that after twoparts are physically mated together, a ninety-degree rotation of eitherpart may cause the magnetic attraction to switch to magnetic repulsionor may cause the mechanical catch to be bypassed, thereby releasing onepart from the other. For example, to remove behind-ear portion 206A fromportable case 204, a user can simply turn either part, e.g., ninetydegrees, to cause behind-ear portion 206A to pop out of case 204; todetach behind-ear portion 206A from tether 210, a user can simply turneither part, e.g., ninety degrees, to cause behind-ear portion 206A toseparate from tether 210.

The attachment features described above may be improved via anelectro-permanent magnetic catch. For example, portable case 204 mayinclude circuitry to cause electro-permanent magnets in retentionstructure 212A to have a greater amount of magnetic attraction tobehind-ear portion 206A when charging to prevent a user from separatingthe two parts prematurely. When behind-ear portion 206A is charged,portable case 204 may activate circuitry to switch the electro-permanentmagnet of retention structure 212A to reduce the magnetic attractionbetween the two parts and enable mechanical disengagement of the chargedbehind-ear portion 206A with minimal force. Similar electro-permanentmagnets may be used in tether 210 for varying the magnetic attractionbetween attachment feature 250 and behind-ear portion 206A depending onwhether the parts are being mated together or separated.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example portable case forstoring and charging behind-ear portions of an example hearingassistance device, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure. Portable case 304 is an example of portable cases 104 and204 of FIGS. 1, 2A, and 2B, and is described below in the context ofFIGS. 1, 2A, and 2B. It should be understood that portable case 304 isonly one example of a portable case according to the describedtechniques. Portable case 304 may include additional or fewer componentsthan those shown in FIG. 3.

In the example of FIG. 3, portable case 304 includes one or more inputcomponents 326, one or more output components 328, one or moreprocessors 320, data storage device 330, system charger 332, hearingassistance device (HAD) charger 334, one or more transceivers 322, oneor more antennas 324, retention structures 312A-312N, energy storagedevice 336, one or more communication units 338, and communication bus340. Data storage device 330 may include interface module 442, variousapplication modules 444, and user data 446.

Communication bus 340 interconnects at least some of the components 322,324, 326, 328, 320, 330, 332, 334, and 338 for inter-componentcommunications. That is, each of components 322, 324, 326, 328, 320,330, 332, 334, and 338 may be configured to communicate and exchangedata via a connection to communication bus 340. In some examples,communication bus 340 is a wired or wireless bus. Communication bus mayinclude a system bus, a network connection, an inter-processcommunication data structure, or any other method for communicatingdata.

Input components 326 are configured to receive various types of input,including tactile input, audible input, image or video input, sensoryinput, and other forms of input. Non-limiting examples of inputcomponents 326 include a presence-sensitive input device or touchscreen, a button, a switch, a key, a microphone, a camera, or any othertype of device for detecting input from a human or machine. Othernon-limiting examples of input components 326 include one or more sensorcomponents, such as a proximity sensor, a global positioning system(GPS) receiver or other type of location sensor, an accelerometer, aninertial measurement unit (IMU), a temperature sensor, a barometer, agyro, an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor, a hydrometer sensor,a heart rate sensor, a magnetometer, a glucose sensor, an olfactorysensor, a compass, a magnetometer, an antennae for wirelesscommunication and location sensing, a step counter, to name a few othernon-limiting examples.

Output components 328 are configured to generate various types ofoutput, including tactile output, audible output, visual output (e.g.,graphical or video), and other forms of output. Non-limiting examples ofoutput components 328 include a sound card, a video card, a speaker, adisplay, a projector, a vibration device, a light, a light emittingdiode (LED), or any other type of device for generating output to ahuman or machine.

One or more communication units 338 enable portable case 304 tocommunicate with external devices (e.g., computing devices 101 and/orHAD 102) via one or more wired and/or wireless connections to network105. Communication units 338 transmit and receive signals beingtransmitted across network 105 and convert the network signals intoreadable data used by any of components 322, 324, 326, 328, 320, 330,332, 334, and 338. One or more antennas 324 are coupled to communicationunits 338 and are configured to generate and receive the signals thatare broadcast through the air (e.g., via network 105).

Examples of communication units 338 include various types of receivers,transmitters, transceivers, Bluetooth radios, short wave radios,cellular data radios, wireless network radios, universal serial bus(USB) controllers, proprietary bus controllers, network interface cards,optical transceivers, radio frequency transceivers, or any other type ofdevice that can send and/or receive information over a network. In caseswhere communication units 338 include a wireless transceiver,communication units 338 may be capable of operating in different radiofrequency (RF) bands (e.g., to enable regulatory compliance with ageographic location at which portable case 304 is being used). Forexample, a wireless transceiver of communication units 338 may operatein the 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz RF bands. A wireless transceiver ofcommunication units 338 may be a near-field magnetic induction (NFMI)transceiver, and RF transceiver, an Infrared transceiver, ultra-sonictransceiver, or other type of transceiver.

In some examples, communication units 338 are configured as wirelessgateways that manage information exchanged between portable case 304,and hearing assistance device 102, computing devices 101, and otherhearing assistance devices. As a gateway, communication units 338 mayimplement one or more standards-based network communication protocols,such as Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi®, GSM, LTE, WiMax®, 802.1X, Zigbee®, LoRa® andthe like as well as non-standards-based wireless protocols (e.g.,proprietary communication protocols). Communication units 338 may allowHAD 102 to communicate, using a preferred communication protocolimplementing intra and inter body communication (e.g., an intra or interbody network protocol), and convert the body communications to astandards-based protocol for sharing the information with othercomputing devices, such as computing devices 101. Whether using a bodynetwork protocol, intra or inter body network protocol, body areanetwork protocol, body sensor network protocol, medical body areanetwork protocol, or some other intra or inter body network protocol,communication units 338 enable HAD 102 to communicate with other devicesthat are embedded inside the body, implanted in the body,surface-mounted on the body, or being carried near a person's body(e.g., while being worn, carried in or part of clothing, carried byhand, or carried in a bag or luggage). For example, HAD 102 may causebehind-ear portion 106A to communicate, using an intra or inter bodynetwork protocol, with in-ear portion 108, when HAD 102 is being worn ona user's ear (e.g., when behind-ear portion 106A is positioned behindthe user's ear while in-ear portion 108 sits inside the user's ear.

Energy storage 336 represents a battery (e.g., a well battery), acapacitor, or other type of electrical energy storage device that isconfigured to power each of the components of portable case 304. Energystorage 336 is coupled to system charger 332 which is responsible forperforming power management and charging of energy storage 336. Systemcharger 332 may be a buck converter, boost converter, flyback converter,or any other type of AC/DC or DC/DC power conversion circuitry adaptedto convert grid power to a form of electrical power suitable forcharging energy storage 336. In some examples, system charger 332includes a charging antenna (e.g., NFMI, RF, or other type of chargingantenna) for wirelessly recharging energy storage 336. In some examples,system charger 332 includes photo-voltaic cells protruding through ahousing of portable case 104 for recharging energy storage 336. Systemcharger 332 may rely on a wired connection to a power source forcharging energy storage 336.

Retention structures 312A-312N (collectively referred to as “retentionstructures 312”) are examples of retention structures 112 and 212 ofFIGS. 1 and 2. For example, retention structures 312 are configured toreceive behind-ear portions 106 for charging. Retention structures 312may discharge behind-ear portions 106 when charged. Retention structures312 may include mechanical and/or magnetic attachment features that,after manipulation by a user, automatically attach or detach behind-earportions 106. Each of retention structures 312 is electrically coupledto energy storage 336 and HAD charger 334. When HAD charger 334 enablesretention structures 312 for charging, electrical current passes fromenergy storage 336 to retention structures 312 (e.g., via some chargingcircuitry).

Retention structures 312 may provide a magnetically coupled electricalconnection between a power source of a behind-ear portion 106 and HADcharger 334. Retention structures 312 may include one or more mechanicalstops to ensure correct seating of behind-ear portions 106 and/or toprevent removal of behind-ear portions 106 when charging. Retentionstructures 312 may include respective retention structures that enableeasy insertion of depleted behind-ear portions 106 and locks thedepleted behind-ear portions 106 in place. The mechanical and/ormagnetic attachment features of retention structures 312 may enable easyinsertion of behind-ear portions 106 and may require a sufficient amountof force to overcome the mechanical and/or magnetic attachment featuresduring removal.

In some examples, retention structures 312 include a magnetic orspring-loaded latch. For example, retention structures 312 may each bean approximate cylindrical shaft, with partial grooves down the lengthof each shaft. When behind-ear portions 106 are pushed inside retentionstructures 312, they are retained by two opposing spring loaded ormagnetic catches inside retention structures 312. The partial groovesprevent the spring loaded or magnetic catches from being released. Sincethe grooves in each shaft do not extend all the way around the diameterof the shaft, in this example, behind-ear portions 106 may be rotated(e.g., ninety-degrees) to a point where there are no grooves in theshaft that are in contact with the catches of behind-ear portions 106.With no grooves to retain behind-ear portions 106 in each shaft, thebehind-ear portions 106, after rotation, can be removed from retentionstructures 312.

In some examples, retention structures 312 include a mechanical featureor mechanical catch that may prevent two parts from being detachedwithout sufficient force for overcoming the mechanical catch. And, inthe case of a magnetic feature, the attachment features may be amechanically and/or magnetically self-aligning design. That is, toconfigure behind-ear portion 106 for use, a user may simply bring anattachment feature of retention structures 312 near an attachment areaof behind-ear portion 106 and the magnetic attraction between theattachment feature and the attachment area of behind-ear portion 106 mayforce the two parts together and enable an electrical connection betweenthe two parts. Similarly, to configure behind-ear portion 106 forstorage or charging in portable case 104, a user may simply position theattachment area of behind-ear portion 106 above an empty one ofretention structures 312, and the magnetic attraction between the emptyretention structure 312 and the attachment area of behind-ear portion106 may allow a user to simply drop behind-ear portion 106 into theempty retention structure 312 where the electrical contacts ofbehind-ear portion 106 may automatically align with the chargingcontacts of the empty one of retention structures 312.

HAD charger 334 includes charging circuitry that is electrically coupledto each of retention structures 312 and is responsible for enabling ordisabling each of retention structures 312 for charging power sources inbehind-ear portions 106. HAD charger 334 may further exchange databetween behind-ear portions 106 located in retention structures 312 andother components of portable case 304. HAD charger 334 may cause themagnetic connection between the power source of a behind-ear portion 106and HAD charger 334 to be stronger when charging the power source andweaker or reversed after the power source is charged (e.g., usingelectro-permanent magnets activated and deactivated by circuitry). Suchelectro-permanent magnets may be configured by a pulse of energysupplied by energy storage 336 and HAD 334. Such energy may be suppliedfrom HAD 334 through direct connection or magnetic induction to theelectro-permanent magnet. It should be understood that one or moreelectro-permanent magnets may be included in either, or both, abehind-ear portion of an example hearing assistance device and portablecase 304. Furthermore, any combination of any of the following:electro-permanent magnets(s), permanent magnet(s), and ferrous material,may be used by at least one of a behind-ear portion of an examplehearing assistance device and portable case 304 to achieve a strong bondbetween portable case 304 and the charging behind-ear portion.

HAD charger 334, in some examples, can detect the positive and negativecontacts in a behind-ear portion of a HAD that is seated in one ofretention structures 312 and adjust its internal circuitry to correctlycharge the behind-ear portion power source. Automatic alignmentdetection by HAD charger 334 may improve usability; a user may not berequired to correctly align and insert behind-ear portions 106 intoportable case 304 since HAD charger 334 automatically configuresportable case 304 to accept behind-ear portions 106 regardless as to howbehind-ear portions 106 are inserted into retention structures 312. Inother embodiments the correct polarity is ensured by magnetic alignmentor by mechanical alignment.

One or more processors 320 execute operations that implementfunctionality of portable case 304. One or more processors 320 may beimplemented as fixed-function processing circuits, programmableprocessing circuits, or a combination of fixed-function and programmableprocessing circuits. Examples of processors 320 include digital signalprocessors, general purpose processors, application processors, embeddedprocessors, graphic processing units (GPUs), digital signal processors(DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), display controllers, auxiliaryprocessors, sensor hubs, input controllers, output controllers,microcontrollers, and any other equivalent integrated or discretehardware or circuitry configure to function as a processor, a processingunit, or a processing device.

Data storage device 330 of portable case 304 represents one or morefixed and/or removable data storage units configured to storeinformation for subsequent processing by processors 320 duringoperations of portable case 304. In other words, data storage device 330retains data accessed by modules 342 and 344 as well as other componentsof portable case 304 during operation. Data storage device 330 may, insome examples, includes a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium that stores instructions, program information, or other dataassociated modules 342 and 344. Processors 320 may retrieve theinstructions stored by data storage device 330 and execute theinstructions to perform operations described herein.

Data storage device 330 may include a combination of one or more typesof volatile or non-volatile memories. In some cases, data storage device330 includes a temporary or volatile memory (e.g., random accessmemories (RAM), dynamic random-access memories (DRAM), staticrandom-access memories (SRAM), and other forms of volatile memoriesknown in the art). In such a case, data storage device 330 is not usedfor long-term data storage and as such, any data stored by storagedevice 330 is not retained when power to data storage device 330 islost. Data storage device 330 in some cases is configured for long-termstorage of information and includes non-volatile memory space thatretains information even after data storage device 330 loses power.Examples of non-volatile memories include magnetic hard discs, opticaldiscs, flash memories, USB disks, or forms of electrically programmablememories (EPROM) or electrically erasable and programmable (EEPROM)memories.

Modules 342 and 344 represent any combination of hardware, software, andfirmware units that are operable by processors 320 to perform operationsof portable case 304. For example, processors 320 may retrieve andexecute instructions stored by data storage device 330 that causeprocessors 320 to perform the operations of modules 342 and 344. Byexecuting the instructions associated with modules 342 and 344,processors 320 may store or write information to data storage device330.

Interface module 342 implements a user interface associated withportable case 304, for example, by translating inputs detected byportable case 304 to commands for performing operations or generatingcorresponding outputs. Interface module 342 receives information aboutinputs detected by input components 326 and in response, generatesinformation for causing output components 328 to produce output. Forexample, interface module 342 may receive information from a microphoneof input components 326, determine that a user is speaking a command toportable case 304, and perform an operation in response.

Interface module 342 may detect two-dimensional and/or three-dimensionalgestures as input from a user of portable case 304. For instance, asensor or IMU of input components 326 may detect a user's movement(e.g., moving a hand, an arm, a pen, a stylus, etc.) within a thresholddistance of the sensor. Interface module 342 may determine a two orthree-dimensional vector representation of the movement and correlatethe vector representation to a gesture input (e.g., a hand-wave, apinch, a clap, a pen stroke, etc.) that has multiple dimensions.Interface module 342 may receive information from an IMU of inputcomponents 326, determine that a user is performing a hand gesture withportable case 304 in-hand, and perform an operation in response.

Interface module 342 may provide a graphical user interface, an audibleuser interface, a haptic interface, or a combination thereof. The userinterface provided by interface module 342 may in some examples abattery gauge. The battery gauge may indicate battery levels ofbehind-ear portions 106 that are seated in retention structures 312. Thebattery gauge may indicate a battery levels of energy source 336. A usermay interact with the battery gauge provided by interface module byproviding verbal inputs (e.g., to a microphone of input components 326),touch inputs (e.g., to a touch screen of input components 326), or viahaptic components (e.g., detected by an IMU of input components 326).For example, if a user shakes portable case 304, the movement detectedby movement sensors of input components 326 may indicate to interfacemodule 342 that a user wishes to learn the charging status of behind-earportions 106. In response to the shake input, interface module 342 maycause a speaker of output components 328 to generate audible output that“speaks” the battery level to the user. Other combinations of touch,voice, or haptic input and visual, audible, and haptic outputs arepossible.

Application modules 344 include any application or software thatportable case 304 may execute to implement the functionality of portablecase 304 that is described in this disclosure. For example, applicationmodules 344 may include machine-learning or artificial intelligencesoftware (e.g., for configuring portable case 304 or any HAD operativelyand communicatively coupled to portable case 304, such as HAD 102), anInternet browser, a media player, a file system, a map or navigationprogram, or any other number of applications or features that portablecase 304 may include. Other examples of application modules 344 includeprogramming software for using portable case 304 as a programmer for HAD102, a personal assistant application, a messaging or personalcommunication application, an audio recording application, or otherapplication.

In some cases, application modules 344 include an audio controllerapplication. The audio controller application may interact withcommunication units 338 to scan for available wireless audio broadcastswithin range of antennas 324 and cause interface module 342 to alert auser of potential audio sources (e.g., via audible, tactile, or visualfeedback). The audio controller application may receive informationobtained by interface module 342 (e.g., after input components 326detect spoken or touch inputs from a user) that is interpreted by theaudio controller application as an input to select a particular audiosource or broadcast.

Application modules 344, in some examples, include a remote-controlapplication. The remote-control application enables a user to provideinputs to portable case 304 that alter settings of a hearing assistancedevice, such as HAD 102, or some other computing device, such as one ofcomputing devices 101.

Application modules 344 may include a remote microphone application. Theremote microphone application enables a user to position portable case304 near a desired audio source (e.g., another person, a speaker, etc.)and hear the audio being picked up by portable case 304, in his or herear as the audio is played back via HAD 102. For instance, the remotemicrophone application may cause a microphone of input components 326 tostart recording audio. In seemingly near real-time, the remotemicrophone application processes the recorded audio and sends therecorded audio via communication units 328 to HAD 102, or some otherexternal device.

Application modules 344 may include a personal assistant application orother artificial intelligence application that interacts with a user toperform various functions. For example, the assistant may help a userconfigure a hearing instrument for a particular environment, access theInternet to perform various tasks on behalf of the user, or performother assistant functionality.

Artificial intelligence capability provided by application modules 344could be distributed (with varying degrees of capability) amongstvarious components connected to network 105. For example, the artificialintelligence capability may execute in whole or part at portable case304, HAD 102, other personal electronics in a body-area-network, and atcomputing devices 101 (e.g., in a cloud-based networked applicationenvironment).

With permission from a user, an artificial intelligence application maymonitor conversations being detected by a microphone of input components326 using voice recognition techniques (e.g., identifying a quantity ofindividual participants and their roles in the conversation), and whennecessary perform targeted cloud-based searches on behalf of the user ornear real-time translations. The artificial intelligence application maycause portable case to audibly, visually, or using haptic feedback,coach the user by causing output components 328 to output additionaldata, answers to questions, or cues when needed.

In some cases, the artificial intelligence application could be used tointerpret speech in the context of a conversation and “regenerate” amuch higher signal-to-noise ratio version of the received audio byperforming word or speech synthesis. The artificial intelligenceapplication may cause portable case 304 to output (e.g., in acomputer-generated voice synthesized by the artificial intelligenceapplication that in some cases mimics the original source) theregenerated audio either via a speaker embedded in output components328, or via a speaker embedded in in-ear portion 108 of HAD 102. Theregenerated audio may in some cases be translated from one language toanother, in some instances, even correcting for grammatical errors. Sucha feature may significantly reduce or off-load the cognitive burden auser may otherwise experience listening to speech in a noisyenvironment. In other applications, the neural network may be employedto make automatic adjustments to HAD 102 based on the acousticenvironment that the wearer is in. These adjustments may be based onsound the microphone picks up from either portable case 304 or HAD 102,themselves. Other adjustments may be more direct from voice commandsfrom the user.

In some examples, the artificial intelligence application comprises aneural network. For example, the artificial intelligence application mayinclude a neural network for sound processing, sound classification, andobject or image classification. In such an example, portable case 304may include (or be communicatively coupled to one located in HAD 102) anultrasonic transducer and sensor for determining range to objects anddensity of objects. As such, portable case 304 may execute theartificial application to perform (e.g., body-word) assistance andnavigation for a seeing impaired user.

User data 346 includes any information stored by portable case 304 onbehalf of a user. User data 346 includes preferences or settingsassociated with portable case 304 and HAD 102. User data 346 may includecalendar information, messages, alerts, warnings, alarms, e-mails,address book or contact information, music files, audio book files, orother audio files that a user of portable case 304 may wish to access,e.g., via a media player application 344 executing at portable case 304.User data 346 may be stored on removable media of data storage 330. Auser may swap out the removable storage media for removable storagemedia that includes other music, audio books, etc. In some cases, userdata 346 includes medical or financial records of the user, and otherinformation that the user may want to have on hand at all times. Forexample, user data 346 may include an audio recording of a user'smedical insurance record, medical records, and medical alerts. User data346 may include a digital wallet with personal credit card orcryptocurrency information.

Application modules 344 may utilize user data 346 to perform anoperation. Application modules 244 may write or modify user data 346.For example, an assistant application may utilize user data 346 tocomplete a task (e.g., when a user commands the assistant to tell theuser about his or her daily schedule).

Portable case 304 and data storage 330 may ensure that user data 346 isencrypted, secure, and/or password protected to prevent malicious use.Such passwords or encryption keys may be authenticated via sensoryinformation obtained from HAD 102 or other external device. For example,a user may speak a password, the spoken audio may be picked up by amicrophone of input components 326 or a microphone of HAD 102. Usingvoice-recognition, face-recognition, or authentication techniques,portable case 304 may validate the user (e.g., the user's voice,fingerprint, or facial image) or invalidate the user. In response tovalidating the password or key, portable case 304 may unlock and grantaccess to user data 346. In response to invalidating the voice input,portable case 304 may prevent access to user data 346. In otherexamples, passwords and keys could be authenticated via on-boardbiometry sensors of input components 326 (e.g., a fingerprint sensor, atemperature sensor, a camera or image sensor configured to performfacial recognition, or other sensor) or HAD 102. In some examples, inresponse to HAD 102 or portable case 104 authenticating a user (e.g., awearer of HAD 102), HAD 102 and/or portable case 104 may act as a“universal password wallet/or key repository” that communicates via anencrypted/secure wireless connection with other wirelessly enableddevices that require user authentication before granting access to theother wirelessly enabled devices (e.g. computers, smart-phones,automobile automation/locks, home automation/locks, etc.)

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example hearing assistancedevice 402, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure. As shown in the example of FIG. 4, hearing assistance device(HAD) 402 includes behind-ear portion 406 operatively coupled to in-earportion 408 via tether 410. HAD 402 is an example of HAD 102, 202, 202Aand 202B of FIGS. 1 and 2A-2D. HAD 402 is described in the context ofFIGS. 1 and 2A-2D. It should be understood that HAD 402 is only oneexample of a hearing assistance device according to the describedtechniques. HAD 402 may include additional or fewer components thanthose shown in FIG. 4.

Examples of each of the components of HAD 402 include the examples ofeach of the similarly-named components of portable case 304 describedabove. For instance, processors 420A and 420B may be similar to examplesof processors 320 described above and examples of input components 426Aand 426B and output components 428A and 428B include the respectiveexamples of input components 326 and output components 328 describedabove. In addition, processors 420A and 420B may include or access localmemory of behind-ear portion 406 and in-ear portion 408, respectively,to perform the operations described herein.

Tether 410 operatively (e.g., electrically, physically, andcommunicatively) couples behind-ear portion 406 with in-ear portion 408.Tether 410 is an example of tethers 110 and 210 and uses a combinationof one or more wired communication links to transfer information andelectrical energy between portions 406 and 408. Tether 410 may beconfigured as a handle for a user to grip HAD 402.

In-ear portion 408 is a part of HAD 402 responsible for outputting soundfor hearing. In-ear portion 408 includes core electro-acoustic featuresof HAD 402, including one or more processors 420B, such as one or moredigital signal processors, one or more output components 428B, such as aspeaker, and one or more input components 426B, such as a microphone.In-ear portion 408 may include additional components (e.g., acousticfilters and other components) that are not shown in FIG. 4.

One or more processors 420B may exchange information via tether 410 withbehind-ear portion 406. One or more processors 420B may receiveinformation from behind-ear portion 406 via tether 410 and perform anoperation in response. Likewise, one or more processors 420B maytransmit information to behind-ear portion 406 via tether 410 to causebehind-ear portion 406 to perform an operation in response.

For example, processors 420B may receive an indication of an audio datastream being output from behind-ear portion 406 and in response, causeoutput components 428B to produce audible sound representative of theaudio stream. In another example, a biometric sensor of input components426B may detect a physiological condition (e.g., heart rate, bodytemperature, blood sugar level, or other physiological condition) or amovement sensor of input components 426B may detect a change in movement(e.g., a change in biometric pressure, an acceleration, or other changein movement). Processors 420B may send an indication of thephysiological condition or change in movement via tether 410 tobehind-ear portion 406 for further processing, such as for executing afall-detection algorithm, determining a user's health, detecting athree-dimensional gesture (e.g., a head shake or head nod), orperforming some other operation based on data received from in-earportion 408.

In this way, HAD 402 can rely on additional processing power provided bybehind-ear portion 406 to perform more sophisticated operations andprovide more advanced features than other hearing instruments. In someexamples, HAD 402 sends information via behind-ear portion 406 to aportable case, such as portable cases 104, 204, and 304, for furtheroffline processing, thus (indirectly) expanding even further theprocessing capabilities of in-ear portion 408. And as described above,portable cases 103, 204, 304, may provide additional offline processingon behalf of behind-ear portion 406 by utilizing a cloud-based serviceor relying on assistance from one of computing devices 101 that iscoupled to network 105.

In addition to the components described above, HAD 402 includes energystorage 436B for enabling in-ear portion 408 to operate as a stand-alonehearing instrument without being operatively coupled to tether 410 andbehind-ear portion 406. For example, a user may prefer to normally weartether 410 and portions 406 and 408 during everyday use. However, when auser prefers to go without behind-ear portion 406 and tether 410 (e.g.,for aesthetic reasons, when exercising, when working, or at any othertime a user chooses to only wear in-ear portion 408), energy storage436B provides sufficient electrical energy storage to power in-earportion 408 during such times. Energy storage 436B may not be intendedto provide sufficient electrical energy for all-day use of in-earportion 408; rather energy storage 436B may provide one or more hours ofuse without altering the form-factor of in-ear portion 408 that enablesin-ear portion 408 to be concealed in a user's ear canal.

Behind-ear portion 406 is a part of HAD 402 responsible for supportingin-ear portion 408 in outputting sound for hearing. In some examples,behind-ear portion 406 includes some or all of the components of in-earportion 408 shown in FIG. 4. Behind-ear portion 406 may include some ofthe components and perform some of the functionality attributed toin-ear portion 408 in the above description, for example, to reduce aphysical size of in-ear portion 408 or otherwise reduce complexity ofin-ear portion 408. For example, in-ear portion 408 may supportautonomous functionality (e.g., by operating independent of behind-earportion 406 and tether 410). In such an example, in-ear portion 408includes tether connections and some or all of the components shown inFIG. 4 including an energy source as shown in FIG. 4. In some examples,in-ear portion 408 includes additional memory for storing user data.

In the example of FIG. 4, behind-ear portion 406 includes one or moreprocessors 420A, system charger 432, one or more output components 428A,one or more input components 426A, energy storage 436A. Behind-earportion 406 further includes, in this example, one or more antennas 424,one or more communication units 438, data storage device 430, andcommunication bus 440. Within data storage device 430 are one or moreapplication modules 444 and user data store 446.

Behind-ear portion 406 may be primarily configured as a detachable,modular component that houses a rechargeable energy source. For example,system charger 432 may include an electromagnetic transducer that iscompletely or partially contained within, or on, a housing of behind-earportion 406 for receiving electrical energy for purposes of chargingenergy source 436A. System charger 432 may include an inductive chargingcoil, or antenna with a pulse width modulation integrated circuit(PWMIC) and/or rectifier. System charger 432 may be configured toreceive electrical energy when behind-ear portion 406 mates with acharging retention structure of portable cases 104, 204, and 304 andstore the received electrical energy in energy storage 436A.

In addition to providing electrical energy, the components of behind-earportion 406 may further configure portion 406 to perform various otheradvanced functions. These other advanced functions include advancedbattery functions such as, but not limited to: short-circuit protection,polarity detection, charging status or alerts, storage reserve capacity,graceful power shutdown, emergency power conservation mode,fast-charging options, and other advanced battery functions. Forexample, one of application modules 444, executing at processors 420A,may receive information from system charger 432 or directly from energystorage 436A and cause processors 420A to present, based on the receivedinformation, battery health and status information via a user interfaceprovided by behind-ear portion 406, and/or the user interface providedby portable cases 104, 204, and 306.

The user interface provided by behind-ear portion 406 may present anaudible or haptic type user interface to the user relying on outputcomponents 428A and/or output components 428B of in-ear portion 408. Forinstance, processors 420A may send data to processors 420B that causeprocessors 420B to use output components 428B to generate sounds,audible cues, haptic feedback, or other alerts to information such as,battery health, battery life, time remaining, storage reserve orcapacity, or other information. In reverse, a user interface provided bybehind-ear portion 406 may receive commands from the user by relying oninput components 426A and/or input components 426B of in-ear portion408. For instance, processors 420A may receive data from processors 420Bindicative of sounds, audible cues, or other information received byinput components 426B as a user interacts with the user interface.Processors 420A may perform operations or alter the user interface basedon the data received from processors 420B.

Other advanced functions that may be provided by behind-ear portion 406,in various examples, include communication functions enabled bycommunication units 438 and antennas 424. Behind-ear portion 406 mayenable in-ear portion 408 to communicate with external devices, such ascomputing devices 101, in addition to enabling communication with otherhearing instruments. For example, one of application modules 444 (e.g.,a media playback application) executing at processors 420A may receivean encoded audio stream from one of computing devices 101, convert theencoded audio stream to a different format that is suitable forconsumption by in-ear portion 408, and cause processors 420A to send theconverted audio stream to processors 420B of in-ear portion 408 forsubsequent decoding and playback to a user. Alternatively, one ofapplication modules 444 may receive an encoded audio stream from in-earportion 408, convert the encoded audio stream to a different format thatis suitable for consumption by computing devices 101, and causeprocessors 420A to send the converted audio stream, via communicationunits 438, to computing devices 101 or portable cases 104, 204, or 304.In this way, in-ear portion 408 and behind-ear portion 406 cancommunicate together and with other hearing instruments using morereliable intra or inter body communication protocols whilesimultaneously supporting communication outside the body using cellular,LTE, Bluetooth®, Wi-FI®, and other communication protocols that aresupported by external devices, such as computing devices 101.

Other advanced functionality provided by behind-ear portion 406 includeoperating in a second mode when not being worn by a user (e.g., nottethered to in-ear portion 408) that is different than the modebehind-ear portion 406 operates-in when being word by the user. Forexample, processors 420A may detect when behind-ear portion 406 isdetached from tether 410. In response to detecting that tether 410 isnot operatively coupled to behind-ear portion 406, one of applicationmodules 444 may cause processors 420A to perform autonomous functions,such as operating as a miniature multi-functional hearing deviceaccessory. In such a mode, behind-ear portion 406 may configure inputcomponents 426A to act as a wireless, remote microphone, or mayconfigure communication units 438 to extend the range of communicationsignals being transmitted or received by portable cases 104, 204, and304, in-ear portion 408, or one of external computing devices 101. Insome examples, even though tether 410 may be removed from behind-earportion 406, behind-ear portion 406 may still maintain a wirelesscommunication connection with in-ear portion 408. Specifically, whileoperating in the second mode, a communication unit and/or antenna ofin-ear portion 408 (not shown in FIG. 4) may wirelessly exchangecommunication signals with antennas 424 and communication units 438 ofbehind-ear portion 406, e.g., to transmit data representative of audioreceived by a microphone associated with behind-ear portion 406 toin-ear portion 408. As an illustration, the user may remove thebehind-ear portion 406 and place it proximate to another person tocapture speech emitted by the person for transmission to the in-earportion 408, facilitating better conversational hearing, e.g., in anoisy environment.

As another example, when operating in the second mode when not beingworn, behind-ear portion 406 may configure processors 420A to operate asa wireless audio controller that enables indirect, wireless pairing ofin-ear portion 408 to portable cases 104, 204, and 304, in-ear portion408, or one of external computing devices 101. By relying on behind-earportion 406 for audio controller functions, in-ear portion 408 mayoffload connection management processing that in-ear portion 408 mightotherwise be required to perform to communicate wirelessly with otherdevices, and as such, may reduce the rate of power consumption by in-earportion 408 and thereby extend the energy reserve of energy storage436B.

In any case, behind-ear portion 406 may perform the operations describedherein while behind-ear portion 406 charges energy storage 436A frominside portable cases 104, 204, and 304. Likewise, behind-ear portion406 may perform the operations described herein while behind-ear portion406 is no longer charging and/or is located outside portable cases 104,204, and 304.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example tether forcoupling a behind-ear portion of an example hearing assistance device toan in-ear portion of the example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Tether510 is an example of tethers 110, 210, and 410 of FIGS. 1, 2A through2D, and 4 and is described in the context of the preceding FIGS. Tether510 includes behind-ear attachment 550, in-ear attachment 556, andcoupling apparatus 560.

In the example of FIG. 5, coupling apparatus 560 is configured totransmit one or more electrical signals, for communication and/or energytransfer, between behind-ear attachment 550 and in-ear attachment 556.For example, coupling apparatus 560 may include one or more elongated,electrical conductors (e.g., copper wires), one or more fiber opticlinks, or one or more infrared links, or one or more other links madefrom any other suitable type of electrical transmission media, any ofwhich may be carried in or covered by an insulative cover or coating.

Attachments 550 and 556 use one or more attachment features tooperatively couple tether 510 to in-ear and behind-ear portions of anexample hearing instrument. Such attachment features may be magnetic,electro-mechanical, mechanical, or some combination thereof. In a simplecase, attachments 550 and 556 provide two or more respective contactsthat when mated with respective electrical conductors on the in-ear andbehind-ear portions, conduct electrical energy being transferred frominternal energy storage components of the in-ear and behind-earportions.

In the example of FIG. 5, attachment 550 includes contacts 552 and 554.Although not shown in FIG. 5, attachment 556 may include similarcontacts. Attachment 556 may in some cases be permanently attached to,and form part of, an in-ear portion of an example hearing instrument,such as in-ear portion 408 of HAD 402. In other cases, attachment 556 issimilar to attachment 550 in that both attachments 550 and 556 aredetachable from behind-ear portions and in-ear portions an examplehearing instrument, such as in-ear portion 408 of HAD 402.

Contacts 552 are configured to mate with corresponding electricalcontacts on a behind-ear portion of an example hearing instrument.Contact 554 may be configured to mate with a corresponding magneticcontact on a behind-ear portion of an example hearing instrument. Insome examples, contacts 552 and 554 represent magnetic fixationelements, electrical connections, mechanical connections, or somecombination of magnetic, electrical, and physical connections.

Contacts 552 and 554 may be co-axial with the corresponding contacts onthe behind-ear portion, thereby preventing a user from incorrectlyattaching tether 510 to the behind-ear or in-ear portions of an examplehearing instrument. Contacts 552 and 554 may provide both mechanical orelectrical connections as well as physical fixation to correspondingcontacts on a behind-ear portion.

In some examples, contacts 552 and 554 are coated to improve electricalconduction and magnetic fixation. For instance, contacts 552 and 554 maybe gold-plated so that multiple instances of magnetic “fixation” areprovided between tether 510 and behind-ear and in-ear portions of anexample hearing instrument. Furthermore, the gold-plating may enablemultiple very low electrical resistance connections as well. In someexamples, contacts 552 and 554 are formed from non-oxidizing,low-resistance material (e.g., copper-nickel-gold metal, stainlesssteel, German silver or copper-zinc-gold, palladium alloys, as well asother suitable materials) that provides mechanical fixation as wellelectrical conduction.

FIGS. 6A through 6C are conceptual diagrams illustrating examplebehind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.Behind-ear portions 606A, 606B, and 606C of FIGS. 6A through 6C areexamples of behind-ear portions 106, 206, and 406 of FIGS. 1, 2A through2D, and 4 and are described in the context of the preceding figures.

In the example of FIG. 6A, behind-ear portions 606A includes contacts652 and 654. Contacts 652 and 654 are similar, and reciprocal tocontacts 552 and 554 of tether 510 of FIG. 5. For example, contacts 652is designed to mate with contacts 552 of tether 510 and contact 654 isconfigured to mate with contacts of tether 510. Contacts 652 and 654represent magnetic fixation elements, electrical connections, mechanicalconnections, or some combination of magnetic, electrical, and physicalconnections. Contacts 652 and 654 may include electro-permanent magnetconnections.

To improve usability, behind-ear portion 606A may be symmetric; in otherwords, behind-ear portion 606A may rely on a housing that enables itsinstallation in a portable case or to a tether with multipleorientations. Therefore, a user need not worry about installingbehind-ear portion 606A incorrectly in a charging case or to a tether.

Contacts 652 and 654 may be co-axial or otherwise keyed with thecorresponding contacts on the tether; thereby preventing a user fromincorrectly attaching the tether to behind-ear portion 606A. Contacts652 and 654 may provide both mechanical or electrical connections aswell as physical fixation to corresponding contacts on an exampletether.

In some examples, contacts 652 and/or 654 are coated to improveelectrical conduction and magnetic fixation. For instance, contacts 652and 654 may be gold-plated so that multiple instances of magnetic“fixation” are provided between a tether and behind-ear portion 606A. Insome examples, contacts 652 and 654 are formed from non-oxidizing,low-resistance material (e.g., copper-nickel-gold metal, stainlesssteel, German silver or copper-zinc-gold, palladium alloys, as well asother suitable materials) that provides mechanical fixation as wellelectrical conduction.

Behind-ear portions 606B and 606C are example behind-ear portions formedof multiple sub-portions (also sometimes referred to herein as“chicklets”) 670A, 670B, and 670C (collectively “sub-portions 670).Although each of behind-ear portions 606B and 606C is shown as havingthree separate sub-portions 670, in other examples, behind-ear portions606B and 606C have two separate sub-portions 670 or more than threeseparate sub-portions 670.

Each sub-portion 670 mates with another sub-portion 670 via contacts 652and 654. Each sub-portion 670 may provide a specific functionality. Eachof sub-portions 670 may be swappable for a different sub-portion. Theindividual components of behind-ear portion 408 shown in FIG. 4 may bedistributed amongst different sub-portions 670. By mixing and matchingvarious types of sub-portions 670, a user can customize each ofbehind-ear portions 606B and 606C for a particular situation. Forexample, sub-portion 670A may be designated as a rechargeable powersupply that provides operating power to behind-ear portion, sub-portion670B may be a radio module that provides wireless telecommunicationbetween the behind-ear portion and another device (such as charging case304), and sub-portion 670C may be a sensor module that senses, e.g., oneor more physiological conditions or signals.

In general, any component of portable case 304 of FIG. 3 and modules 406and 408 of FIG. 4 may be included in one or more sub-portions 670.Examples of sub-portions 670 include various power sources, radiomodules, sensor modules, output components, input components, and othertypes of components.

Sub-portion 670B may be a Bluetooth® radio and a user may wish toexchange sub-portion 670B for a different radio module, such as a Wi-Fi®or cellular radio to configure behind-ear portions 606B and 606C forcommunicating on a Wi-Fi® or cellular network as opposed to a Bluetooth®network. Sub-portion 670C may be a programming module that a physicianor other user attaches to behind-ear portion 606B, for instance, tore-program an in-ear portion, such as in-ear portion 408 of FIG. 4. Insome examples, sub-portion 670B and any other one of sub-portions 670may be configured as a software-defined radio for performing multi-modecommunications with a single “radio” hardware component. And in someexamples, sub-portion 670B and any other one of sub-portions 670 may beconfigured as a near field magnetic induction radio (NFMI).

When configured as a sensor module, sub-portion 670A may include one ormore biological and/or physical sensor types. Some non-limiting examplesof sensor types include temperature, photovoltaic, pressure,electroencephalography, heart-rate, respiration rate, oxygen level,blood-glucose, intra-ocular, electrocardiogram, movement, or any othersensor type. When configured as sensors, sub-portions 670 maycooperatively communicate, e.g., via a wireless body area network(WBAN), with other sub-portions 670 and other intra or inter bodywireless sensors that are unrelated to the hearing instrument.

A user may combine various types of sub-portions 670 to form a firstbehind-ear portion 606B or 606C for his or her left ear and may combinedifferent types of sub-portions 670 to form a second behind-ear portion606B or 606C for his or her right ear. In some examples, sub-portions670 can be attached in any order to form a behind-ear portion 606.Accordingly, sub-portions 670 enable asymmetrically distributedfunctionality amongst binaural hearing device. That is, rather thanutilize two similar hearing instruments, with one in each ear, a usermay benefit from having two different hearing instruments, one in eachear, that are operatively coupled to form a single, binaural hearingassistance system. Such a hearing assistance system may offer morecapability and functionality than a traditional binaural hearingassistance system that relies on a similar hearing instrument in eachear.

Sub-portions 670 are configured as stackable structures. In someexamples, sub-portions 670 are configured to mate together in aparticular order. In other examples, sub-portions 670 are configured toattach together in a predefined order (e.g., dictated by a shape,structure, or function of each sub-portion 670). In some examples,electrical contacts and other physical features of each sub-portion isidentical so that any sub-portion may be a top, bottom, or middlesub-portion 670.

Besides sensing, sub-portions 670 may be configured as output componentsthat provide alerts or other feedback to a user. Sub-portions 670 mayprovide acoustic outputs, non-acoustic outputs such as haptic feedback,vibration, or electrical and/or neural stimulation that can be sensed bythe user from surface electrodes on sub-portions 670.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating example operations performed by anexample hearing assistance system, in accordance with one or moreaspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is described below in thecontext of system 100 of FIG. 1. System 100 may execute operations700-736 in a different order than that shown in FIG. 7. System 100 mayperform additional or fewer operations than those shown in FIG. 7. Asone example, portable case 104 executes operations 700-714, behind-earportion 106A executes operations 716-728, and in-ear portion 108executes operations 730-736; however, system 100 may distribute theexecution of operations 700-736 amongst components of system 100 inother ways.

In operation, from the perspective of portable case 104, portable case104 may detect a retention structure sharing an electrical connectionwith a behind-ear portion of a hearing assistance device (700). Forexample, a processor of portable case 104 may determine that behind-earportion 106B has been inserted into retention structure 112B in responseto determining that the hearing assistance device charging circuitry ofportable case 104 is electrically coupled to an energy source ofbehind-ear portion 106B.

Portable case 104 may charge a power source of the behind-ear portion(702). For example, in response to detecting the electrical connectionshared between the charging circuitry of portable case 104 andbehind-ear portion 106B, the processor of portable case 104 may enablethe charging circuitry and cause the charging circuitry to replenish theenergy source of behind-ear portion 106B with electrical energy. In someexamples, portable case 104 may enable an electro-permanent magnet inretention structure 112B to cause a strong enough magnetic bond betweenretention structure 112B and behind-ear portion 106B that prevents auser from removing behind-ear portion 106B from retention structure 112Bduring the charging process.

During the charging process, portable case 104 may determine whether thepower source of the behind-ear portion is charged to a specified level(e.g., fully charged to capacity) or still charging (704). In responseto determining that the power source is not charged to the specifiedlevel (704, NO decision), portable case 104 may keep charging the powersource of the behind-ear portion (702).

However, in response to determining that the power source is charged tothe specified level (704, YES decision), portable case 104 configuresthe retention structure to release the behind-ear portion from theportable case (706). For example, the processor of portable case 104 maymonitor the remaining energy capacity of the energy source of behind-earportion 106B and determine whether the remaining energy capacitysatisfies a threshold for indicating that the energy source is charged.In response to determining that the remaining energy capacity indicatesthat the energy source is charged, the processor of portable case 104may disable the charging circuitry and cause the charging circuitry tostop replenishing the energy source of behind-ear portion 106B withelectrical energy. As portable case 104 ceases charging the powersource, portable case 104 may disable an electro-permanent magnet inretention structure 112B to diminish a magnetic bond between retentionstructure 112B and behind-ear portion 106B so as to allow a user toremove behind-ear portion 106B from retention structure 112B now thatthe charging process has terminated.

In a second example, portable case 104 may be configured as an audiocontroller that detects available audio sources and automaticallyconnects with the mobile phone when portable case 104 detects aconnection with the phone. Or portable case 104 may be configured as agateway that enables hearing assistance device 102 to communicateaccording to a protocol used by computing devices 101 even thoughhearing assistance device 102 itself may not be configured tocommunicate according to that protocol.

In further operation, from the perspective of portable case 104,portable case 104 may receive, from an external computing device, firstdata according to a first communication protocol (708). For example, aprocessor of portable case 104 may communicate, via network 105, using aWi-Fi® connection, with a music service executing at a server ofcomputing devices 101 and receive an audio stream or some other dataover the Wi-Fi® connection.

Portable case 104 may send, to a behind-ear portion of a hearingassistance device, the first data (710). For example, a processor ofportable case 104 may open a communication session with behind-earportion 106A and send the data received from the mobile phone tobehind-ear portion 106A for subsequent playback via in-ear portion 108.In some examples, portable case 104 sends the first data according tothe first communication protocol. For instance, portable case 104 mayshare a separate Wi-Fi® connection with behind-ear portion 106A and maypass the data received from the music service over the Wi-Fi® connectionand on to behind-ear portion 106A for further processing.

In other examples, portable case 104 sends the first data according to asecond communication protocol that is different than the firstcommunication protocol. For instance, behind-ear portion 106A may beconfigured to communicate with portable case 104 via Bluetooth®, usingan intra or inter body network protocol, or some other communicationprotocol that is different than Wi-Fi®. Portable case 104 may send thedata received from the mobile phone over the connection shared withbehind-ear portion 106A regardless as to the connection shared betweenportable case 104 and the mobile phone.

Portable case 104 may receive, from the behind-ear portion, fourth data(712). For example, behind-ear portion 106A may share log-in credentialsto the music service with portable case 104 so that portable case 104can manage the connection with the music service on behalf of hearingassistance device 102. Behind-ear portion 106A may retrieve the log-incredentials via user data stored locally at behind-ear portion 106A ormay receive the log-in credentials as a user provides input tobehind-ear portion 106A (e.g., a voice input with the user's user nameand password).

Portable case 104 may send, to the external computing device, the seconddata (714). For example, portable case 104 may communicate over Wi-Fi®with the music service server to log the user into the music service sohe or she can enjoy streaming music via in-ear portion 108. In somecase, portable case 104 receives data from behind-ear portion 106Aaccording to the same or different communication protocol used byportable case 104 to communicate with computing devices 101. That is,portable case 104 may receive the login credentials via Bluetooth® andshare the credentials with the music service via Wi-Fi®; or in someexamples, portable case 104 may receive the login credentials via Wi-Fi®and also share the credentials with the music service via Wi-Fi®.

In operation, from the perspective of behind-ear portion 106A,behind-ear portion 106A may receive first data from a portable case(716). For example, behind-ear portion 106A may receive the audio streamthat portable case 104 receives from the music service executing atcomputing devices 101. Behind-ear portion 106A may receive the audiostream via a Bluetooth® connection or according to some othercommunication protocol.

Behind-ear portion 106A may generate, based on the first data, seconddata in response to performing an operation based on the first data(718). For example, behind-ear portion 106A may generate playbackinstructions for causing in-ear portion 108 to output sounds based onthe music stream.

Behind-ear portion 106A may send, to at least one in-ear portion of thehearing assistance system, the second data (720). For example,behind-ear portion 106A may send the playback instructions to in-earportion 108 and/or some other in-ear portion of a different hearingassistance device that is in communication with behind-ear portion 106A.In other words, “the at least one in-ear portion 108” may include atleast one of: in-ear portion 108 or a different in-ear portion of adifferent hearing assistance device other than hearing assistance device102. Behind-ear portion 106A may communicate with in-ear portion 108(i.e., the in-ear portion 108 that is physically paired with behind-earportion 106A) and behind-ear portion 106A may communicate with an in-earportion of a different hearing assistance device that is not hearingassistance device 102. In this way, behind-ear portion 106A maycommunicate with two different in-ear portions, one in a user's left earand one in the user's right ear.

In some examples, behind-ear portion 106A receives the first data fromportable case 104 according to a first communication protocol and sendsthe second data to the at least one in-ear portion according to a secondcommunication protocol. For instance, the first and second communicationprotocols may be different; behind-ear portion 106A may receive theaudio stream via a Bluetooth® connection with portable case 104 and maytransmit the playback instructions via an intra or inter body networkprotocol to in-ear portion 108. Alternatively, the first and secondcommunication protocols may be the same; behind-ear portion 106A mayreceive the audio stream via a Bluetooth® connection with portable case104 and may transmit the playback instructions via a Bluetooth®connection with in-ear portion 108.

In operation, continuing from the perspective of behind-ear portion106A, behind-ear portion 106A may receive third data from at least onein-ear portion of the hearing assistance system (722). For example,behind-ear portion 106A may receive information from in-ear portion 108about sounds being picked up by a microphone of in-ear portion 108. Insome examples, the at least one in-ear portion of the hearing assistancesystem includes at least one of: in-ear portion 108 or an in-ear portionof a different hearing assistance device that is not hearing assistancedevice 102.

Behind-ear portion 106A may perform an operation based on the first data(724). For example, an advanced noise-cancelling algorithm executing atbehind-ear portion 106A may process the sound information received fromin-ear portion 108 to remove noise or otherwise enhance spoken dialogueidentified from the sound information.

Behind-ear portion 106A may generate fourth data in response toperforming the operation based on the first data (726). For example,behind-ear portion 106A may create audio data representative of theprocessed sound information for subsequent playback.

Behind-ear portion 106A may send, to a portable case of the hearingassistance system, the second data generated in response to performingthe operation based on the first data (728). For example, behind-earportion 106A may send the processed audio data to portable case 104 forstoring the audio data as a sound file in a memory of portable case 104.Or in some examples, behind-ear portion 106A may cause a speaker ofin-ear portion 108 to output sound based on the processed audio data sothat what a user hears via in-ear portion 108 is the processed,filtered, enhanced sound, rather than the raw noisy audio picked up bythe microphone.

Of course, it should be understood that in some examples, behind-earportion 106A communicates with portable case 104 and in-ear portion 108using a same communication protocol. And in other cases, behind-earportion 106A communicates with portable case 104 and in-ear portion 108using different communication protocols—communicating with portable case104 via a protocol such as Bluetooth® and communicating with in-earportion 108 via a protocol that is more suitable for intra or inter bodycommunications, such as an intra or inter body network protocol.

In operation, from the perspective of in-ear portion 108, in-ear portion108 may receive, from a behind-ear portion of the hearing assistancedevice, second data (730). For example, in-ear portion 108 may receiveplayback instructions that behind-ear portion 106A generates from amusic stream.

In-ear portion 108 may perform an operation based on the first data(732). For example, in-ear portion 108 may generate output via a speakeror other output component to convey sounds being interpreted bybehind-ear portion 106A from the music stream.

In continuing operations from the perspective of in-ear portion 108,in-ear portion 108 may generate third data (734). For example, amicrophone of in-ear portion 108 may pick up sounds in a user'senvironment and may generate audio data representative of the sounds.

In-ear portion 108 may send, to the behind-ear portion, the third data(736). For example, in-ear portion 108 may transmit an indication of theaudio data to behind-ear portion 106A for causing behind-ear portion106A to perform advanced audio enhancement of the sounds in the user'senvironment. For example, behind-ear portion 106A may isolate humandialogue from the sounds or may determine a context from the sounds andan assistant executing at behind-ear portion 106A may recommend the userperform a particular action associated with the sound or context. Forinstance, the assistant may determine that the user is at a sportingevent and may recommend that the user listen to a radio broadcast of theevent in at least one ear, rather than listen to the live audio beingpicked up by in-ear portion 108 in both ears.

FIGS. 8A through 8C are conceptual diagrams illustrating some exampleretention structure arrangements of a portable case for storing andcharging behind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In theexamples of FIGS. 8A through 8C, various arrangements of retentionstructures 812A-812G (collectively referred to herein as “retentionstructures 812”).

FIG. 8A shows a circumferential arrangement of retention structures 812around the circumference of housing 804A. In other words, each ofretention structures 812 may be in a different circumferential positionof housing 804A. Put another way, each circumferential position ofhousing 804A may correspond to a different angular positions about acenter of housing 804A. The different circumferential positions may beequally spaced around the circumference of housing 804A or may beunequally spaced and grouped near one or more sectors of thecircumference of housing 804A.

FIG. 8B shows a linear arrangement of retention structures 812 aroundthe circumference of housing 804B. That is, each of retention structures812 may be in a different position in-line with a linear axis of housing804B. Said differently, retention structures 812 may form a lineararrary, row, column of rention structures 812 at different linearpositions along a linear axis of the housing. The different linearpositions may be uniformly spaced along a linear axis of housing 804B ormay be unequally spaced and grouped near different portions of thelinear axis of housing 804B.

FIG. 8C shows a diagonal-linear or square arrangement of retentionstructures 812 of housing 804C. Each of retention structures 812 may bein a different corner of housing 804B. Groups of one or more retentionstructures 812 may be uniformly distributed amongst the corners ofhousing 804B. Or in some cases, only some of the corners of housing 804Binclude one or more retention structures 812.

FIGS. 9A through 9D are conceptual diagrams illustrating examplebehind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.Behind-ear portions 906A, 906B, 906C, and 906D of FIGS. 9A through 9Dare examples of behind-ear portions 106, 206, 406, and 606 of FIGS. 1,2A through 2D, 4, and 6A through 6C and are described in the context ofthe preceding figures.

Behind-ear portions 906A through 906D (collectively “behind-ear portions906”) are example behind-ear portions formed of stackable sub-portions970A-970E (collectively “sub-portions 970). Although each of behind-earportions 906 is shown as having between three and five separatesub-portions 970, in other examples, behind-ear portions 906 have moreor fewer sub-portions 970 than shown.

Each sub-portion 970 mates with another sub-portion 970 via one or morecontacts and attachment features, including mechanical, magnetic, andelectro-magnetic. Each sub-portion 970 may provide a specificfunctionality. Each of sub-portions 970 may be swappable for a differentsub-portion. The individual components of behind-ear portion 408 shownin FIG. 4 may be distributed amongst different sub-portions 970. Bymixing and matching various types of sub-portions 970, a user cancustomize each of behind-ear portions 906 for a particular situation. Asone example, sub-portion 970A may be a rechargeable power source,sub-portion 970B may be processing circuitry, sub-portion 970C may be amicrophone, sub-portion 970D may be a data storage device, andsub-portion 970E may be a wireless radio.

In one example, behind-ear portion 906A includes each of sub-portions970A through 970E arranged in a particular order. In another example,behind-ear portion 906B includes each of sub-portions 970A through 970Earranged in a different order than the order of sub-portions 970 ofbehind-ear portion 906A.

In another example, behind-ear portion 906C includes sub-portions 970B,970A, 970C, and 970E arranged in that order. In another example,behind-ear portion 906D includes sub-portion 970C, sub-portion 970B, andsub-portion 970A arranged in that order.

FIGS. 9A through 9D show that many different combinations of one or moresub-portions 970 may be used to form a behind-ear portion, such asbehind-ear portions 906. In this way, a user can tailor or customize hisor her left and right side hearing assistance devices in various uniqueways, depending on his or her needs for a particular situation.

FIGS. 10A through 10G are conceptual diagrams illustrating an examplesequence for swapping out a behind-ear portion of an example hearingassistance device for a different behind-ear portion that is seated inan example portable, in accordance with one or more aspects of thepresent disclosure. The components shown in FIGS. 10A through 10G areexamples of the components shown in the preceding figures and aredescribed in the context of the preceding figures. The example shown inFIGS. 10A through 10G shown a sequence of steps that a user may performto swap out behind-ear portion 1006A in exchange for behind-ear portion1006B which is shown seated in portable case 1004.

FIG. 10A includes portable case 1004 including cover 1018 havingopenings 1016A and 1016B. A user, while holding tether 1010 and/orin-ear portion 1008, may position behind-ear portion 1006A over opening1016A and place behind-ear portion 1006A in the retention structureexposed via opening 1016A. FIG. 10B shows behind-ear portion 1006Ahaving been placed in the retention structure exposed via opening 1016A.After placing behind-ear portion 1006A in the retention structureexposed via opening 1016A, FIG. 10C shows that the user may pull, twist,or otherwise detach tether 1010 from behind-ear portion 1006A.

As shown in FIG. 10D, the user may manipulate cover 1018 of portablecase 1004 so that opening 1016B exposes the retention structure holdingbehind-ear portion 1006A. After revealing behind-ear portion 1006B bymanipulating cover 1018, FIG. 10E shows that the user may move tether1010 towards behind-ear portion 1006B. FIG. 10F shows the user attachingtether 1010 to behind-ear portion 1006B. Finally, FIG. 10G shows theuser removing behind-ear portion 1006B from portable case 1004 byholding tether 1010 and pulling behind-ear portion 1006B, tether 1010,and in-ear portion 1008 as a single hearing assistance device.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustrating an example portable case for storingand charging behind-ear portions of an example hearing assistancedevice, in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 11 is described in the context of FIG. 3 and the otherpreceding figures.

Portable case 1104 is an example of portable case 304 of FIG. 3. In someexamples, portable case 1104 is configured to communicate with remotecomputing devices (e.g., computing devices 101) via network 1105. Insome examples, portable case 1104 is configured to communicate directlywith hearing assistance devices 1102A and 1102B. Whether communicatingvia network 1105 or communicating directly with hearing assistancedevices 1102A and 1102B, portable case 1104 relies on communicationunits 1138A and 1138B to exchange information between portable case 1104and the other devices. In some examples, communication units 1138A and1138B are transceivers. In some examples, communication units 1138A and1138B are a single component or multiple components, as shown in FIG.11. Also included in portable case 1104 are two antennas 1124A and1124B. Antennas 1124A and 1124B may include a single antenna or multipleantennas. Antennas 1124A and 1124B may be two different types ofantennas.

Portable case 1104 includes one or more processors 1120 for controllingthe operations of portable case 1104. Processors 1120 may include one ormore hardware processing units, software processing units, or acombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware for controlling theoperations of portable case 1104.

Portable case further includes a user interface unit that includes oneor more input components 1126B and one or more output components 1126.The user interface of portable case 1104 may perform operationsdescribed above with respect to UI module 320 and other components ofportable case 304 of FIG. 3 for providing output to a user and receivinginput from the user.

Portable case 1104 may include microphone 1126A. Microphone 1126A may beconfigured as a remote microphone for obtaining audio in thesurroundings of portable case 1104. In some examples, microphone 1126Adetects voice input as part of a voice-controlled user interface ofportable case 1104.

For charging behind-ear portions of example hearing assistance devices,portable case 1104 includes retention structures 1112A and 1112B whichare operatively coupled to HAD charger 1134. Portable case 1104 alsoincludes energy storage 1136 which is charged by system charger 1132.System charger 1132 may be a wireless charging component relying ontransformer. In other examples, system charger 1132 is a wired chargingcomponent or a combination of wired and wireless charging circuitry. Inany event, portable case 1104 is configured to charge one or morebehind-ear portions of an example hearing assistance device using theelectrical energy stored by energy storage 1136 and output via HAD 1134.

FIGS. 12A through 12D are conceptual diagrams illustrating variousarrangements of retention structures of an example portable case, inaccordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 12Athrough 12D are described in the context of the preceding figures.

FIG. 12A shows portable case 1204A with empty retention structures 1212Aand 1212B in a linear arrangement. Contacts 1252 and 1254 are present inboth retention structures 1212A and 1212B. Contacts 1252 are similar tocontacts 552 of FIG. 5. Contacts 1254 are similar to contacts 554 ofFIG. 5

FIG. 12B shows portable case 1204A with full retention structures 1212Aand 1212B. That is, behind-ear portions 1206A and 1206B mate withrespective contacts 1252 and 1254 that are present in a respective oneof retention structures 1212A and 1212B and are (mechanically and/ormagnetically) held in place by the respective one of retentionstructures 1212A and 1212B.

FIG. 12C shows portable case 1204B with empty retention structures 1212Athrough 1212D in a circular arrangement. Contacts 1252 and 1254 arepresent in each of retention structures 1212A through 1212D. Contacts1252 are similar to contacts 552 of FIG. 5. Contacts 1254 are similar tocontacts 554 of FIG. 5

FIG. 12B shows portable case 1204B with full retention structures 1212Athrough 1212D. That is, behind-ear portions 1206A through 1206D matewith respective contacts 1252 and 1254 that are present in a respectiveone of retention structures 1212A through 1212D and are (mechanicallyand/or magnetically) held in place by the respective one of retentionstructures 1212A through 1212D.

Example 1

A portable case for storing and charging hearing assistance devices, theportable case comprising: at least one retention structure configured toretain at least part of a hearing assistance device; an energy storagedevice; charging circuitry electrically coupled to the energy storagedevice and the at least one retention structure; at least one processorconfigured to: detect when the at least one retention structure sharesan electrical connection with the at least part of the hearingassistance device that is retained by the at least one retentionstructure; and cause the charging circuitry to charge, via theelectrical connection shared by the at least one retention structure andthe at least part of the hearing device, a power source of the hearingassistance device.

Example 2

The portable case of example 1, wherein the at least one retentionstructure comprises two or more retention structures, wherein eachretention structure of the two or more retention structures isconfigured to retain at least part of a single hearing assistance deviceat a time.

Example 3

The portable case of any of examples 1-2, wherein the portable casecomprises a housing and the two or more retention structures arearranged at different circumferential positions in the housing.

Example 4

The portable case of any of examples 1-3, wherein the portable casecomprises a housing and the two or more retention structures arearranged linearly in the housing.

Example 5

The portable case of any of examples 1-4, wherein the portable casecomprises a housing and a cover, and wherein an opening of the at leastone retention structure is concealable by the cover.

Example 6

The portable case of example 5, wherein the cover is configured toreveal the opening of the at least one retention structure aftermechanical manipulation of the cover.

Example 7

The portable case of example 6, where the cover is configured to revealthe opening of the at least one retention structure after rotating thecover.

Example 8

The portable case of any of examples 6-7, where the cover is configuredto reveal the opening of the at least one retention structure aftersliding the cover.

Example 9

The portable case of any of examples 6-8, where the cover is configuredto reveal the opening of the at least one retention structure afterdetaching the cover.

Example 10

The portable case of any of examples 6-9, wherein the at least oneretention structure comprises two or more retention structures, and thecover is configured to reveal a single retention structure of the two ormore retention structures after mechanical manipulation of the cover.

Example 11

The portable case of any of examples 1-10, wherein the at least oneretention structure comprises an electro-permanent magnet, and the atleast one processor is further configured to control circuitry tostrengthen a magnetic connection between the electro-permanent magnetand the at least part of the hearing assistance device that is retainedby the at least one retention structure while causing the chargingcircuitry to charge the power source of the hearing assistance device.

Example 12

The portable case of any of examples 1-11, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to cause the charging circuitry to ceasecharging the power source of the hearing assistance device in responseto determining when the power source of the hearing assistance device ischarged to a specified level.

Example 13

The portable case of example 12, wherein the at least one retentionstructure comprises an electro-permanent magnet, and the at least oneprocessor is further configured to control circuitry to weaken amagnetic connection between the electro-permanent magnet and the atleast part of the hearing assistance device that is retained by the atleast one retention structure after causing the charging circuitry tocease charging the power source of the hearing assistance device.

Example 14

The portable case of any of examples 12-13, wherein the at least oneretention structure comprises one or more mechanical features that areconfigured to eject the at least part of the hearing assistance devicethat is retained by the at least one retention structure after themagnetic connection between the electro-permanent magnet and the atleast part of the hearing assistance device is weakened.

Example 15

The portable case of any of examples 1-14, wherein the at least oneretention structure includes one or more attachment features configuredto mate with corresponding attachment features of the at least one partof the hearing assistance device.

Example 16

The portable case of example 15, wherein the one or more attachmentfeatures include at least one of mechanical features, magnetic features,or electro-magnetic features.

Example 17

The portable case of any of examples 15-16, wherein the one or moreattachment features include two or more electrical contacts configuredto conduct electrical current between the energy storage device and theat least part of the hearing assistance device.

Example 18

The portable case of any of examples 1-17, further comprising one ormore communication units configured to exchange information between theportable case and one or more external devices.

Example 19

The portable case of example 18, wherein the one or more externaldevices include: a computing device, the hearing assistance device, orat least one other hearing assistance device.

Example 20

The portable case of any of examples 18-19, wherein the one or morecommunication units are configured for wireless communication betweenthe portable case and the one or more external devices

Example 21

The portable case of any of examples 18-20, wherein the one or morecommunication units are configured for wired communication between theportable case and the one or more external devices.

Example 22

The portable case of any of examples 18-21, wherein the one or morecommunication units include at least one of: near field communicationradio, a Bluetooth® radio, a Wi-Fi® radio, a cellular radio, a softwaredefined radio, a multimodal radio, a near field magnetic inductionradio, or a radio configured to communicate via a wireless intra orinter body-network protocol.

Example 23

The portable case of any of examples 18-22, wherein at least oneprocessor is further configured to: receive, via the one or morecommunication units, first data from a first external device of the oneor more external devices, the first data being encoded according to afirst communication protocol; after decoding the first data, generatesecond data, the second data being encoded according to a secondcommunication protocol; and send, via the one or more communicationunits, the second data to a second external device of the one or moreexternal devices that is different than the first external device.

Example 24

The portable case of example 23, wherein: the hearing assistance deviceis a first hearing assistance device; the first external device is thefirst hearing assistance device; the second external device is a secondhearing assistance device; and the first communication protocol and thesecond communication protocol are a wireless intra or inter body networkprotocol.

Example 25

The portable case of any of examples 23-24, wherein: the first externaldevice is the hearing assistance device; the second external device is amobile computing device; the first communication protocol is a wirelessintra or inter body network protocol; and the second communicationprotocol is a second wireless communication protocol.

Example 26

The portable case of any of examples 23-25, wherein the first data andthe second data comprise an audio data stream.

Example 27

The portable case of any of examples 18-26, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to execute, based on the informationexchanged between the portable case and one or more external devices,one or more operations on behalf of the one or more external devices.

Example 28

The portable case of any of examples 1-27, further comprising amicrophone, wherein the at least one processor is configured towirelessly transmit audio captured using the microphone to one or moreexternal devices.

Example 29

The portable case of any of examples 1-28, further comprising:

one or more input components configured to detect user inputs as part ofa user interface.

Example 30

The portable case of example 29, wherein the one or more inputcomponents comprise an inertial measurement configured to detect usergestures performed while holding the portable case.

Example 31

The portable case of any of examples 29-30, wherein the one or moreinput components comprise a microphone configured to detect voicecommands.

Example 32

The portable case of any of examples 29-31, wherein the one or moreinput components comprise a presence-sensitive input componentconfigured to detect touch inputs.

Example 33

The portable case of any of examples 1-32, further comprising:

one or more output components configured to generate outputs of a userinterface.

Example 34

The portable case of example 33, wherein the one or more outputcomponents comprise one or more of a display, a speaker, or a hapticfeedback component configured to present the user interface.

Example 35

The portable case of any of examples 1-34, further comprising acomputer-readable storage medium.

Example 36

The portable case of example 35, wherein the computer-readable storagemedium is removable.

Example 37

The portable case of any of examples 35-36, wherein thecomputer-readable storage medium stores instructions of one or moreapplication programs that are executable by the at least one processor.

Example 38

The portable case of example 37, wherein the computer-readable storagemedium stores user data accessed by the one or more application programswhen executing at the at least one processor.

Example 39

The portable case of any of examples 1-38, further comprising systemcharging circuitry configured to charge the energy storage device via awired or wireless connection with an energy source.

Example 40

A hearing assistance device comprising: a behind-ear portion comprisinga rechargeable energy source; an in-ear portion comprising one or morecomponents including: at least one processor, a microphone, and aspeaker; and a tether configured to transmit electrical energy from therechargeable energy source to the one or more components of the in-earportion.

Example 41

The hearing assistance device of example 40, wherein the in-ear portionis permanently attached to the tether.

Example 42

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-41, wherein anattachment feature of the in-ear portion is configured to couple to acorresponding attachment feature of the tether.

Example 43

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-42, wherein anattachment feature of the behind-ear portion comprises an attachmentfeature configured to couple to a corresponding attachment feature ofthe tether.

Example 44

The hearing assistance device of example 43, wherein the attachmentfeature of the behind-ear portion comprises at least one of mechanicalfeatures, magnetic features, or electro-magnetic features.

Example 45

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-44, wherein the oneor more attachment features include two or more electrical contactsconfigured to conduct, via the tether, electrical current between therechargeable energy source of the behind-ear portion and the one or morecomponents of the in-ear portion.

Example 46

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-45, wherein two ormore electrical contacts are configured to conduct electrical currentbetween the rechargeable energy source of the behind-ear portion andcharging circuitry of a portable case.

Example 47

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-46, wherein thein-ear portion is configured to generate sound for hearing by a user.

Example 48

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-46, when the in-earportion comprises an internal energy source.

Example 49

The hearing assistance device of example 48, wherein the in-ear portionis configured to generate sound for hearing by the user whendisconnected from the tether.

Example 50

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-49, wherein thebehind-ear portion comprises at least one of a sensor, a microphone, ora communication radio configured to receive input.

Example 51

The hearing assistance device example 50, wherein the behind-ear portionis configured to operate as one or more of: a remote microphone unitthat outputs audio data detected by the microphone; a remote sensor unitthat outputs sensor data detected by the sensor; or a communicationradio unit that outputs radio data detected by the communication radiounit.

Example 52

The hearing assistance device of example 51, wherein the behind-earportion is configured to operate as the one or more of the remotemicrophone unit, the remote sensor unit, or the communication radiounit, when the behind-ear portion is detached from the tether

Example 53

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 51-52, wherein thebehind-ear portion is configured to communicate wirelessly with anexternal computing device.

Example 54

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 51-53, wherein theexternal computing device includes a portable case, a mobile phone, oranother hearing assistance device.

Example 55

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 40-54, wherein thebehind-ear portion comprises two or more sub-portions operativelycoupled to the tether and the in-ear portion, each of the two or moresub-portions is stackable with and detachable from each othersub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.

Example 56

The hearing assistance device of example 55, wherein a singlesub-portion of the two or more sub-portions contains the rechargeableenergy source.

Example 57

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 55-56, wherein eachsub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is unique in at least onefunction or structure with respect to each other sub-portion from thetwo or more sub-portions.

Example 58

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 55-57, wherein eachsub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is physically distinct fromeach other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.

Example 59

The hearing assistance device of example 58, wherein each sub-portion ofthe one or more sub-portions is operatively coupled to at least oneother sub-portion from the one or more sub-portions.

Example 60

The hearing assistance device of example 59, wherein two or moresub-portions are operatively coupled together via correspondingattachment features comprising mechanical, magnetic, or a combination ofmechanical and magnetic contacts.

Example 61

The hearing assistance device of any of examples 55-60, wherein eachsub-portion of the one or more sub-portions is configured to operateindependently without being coupled to the in-ear portion.

Example 62

A hearing assistance system comprising: the portable case of any one ofany of examples 1-39; and the hearing assistance device of any one ofany of examples 40-61.

Example 63

The hearing assistance system of example 62, wherein the hearingassistance device of example 56 is a first hearing assistance device,the system further comprising a second hearing assistance device of anyone of any of examples 40-61 that is communicatively coupled to thefirst hearing assistance device.

Example 64

The hearing assistance system of example 63, wherein the first hearingassistance device comprises at least one input component that isdifferent than each input component of the second hearing assistancedevice, and the second hearing assistance device is configured toreceive, from the first hearing assistance device, information obtainedby the at least one input component.

Example 65

The hearing assistance system of example 64, wherein the at least oneinput component includes a sensor, a microphone, or a radio.

Example 66

The hearing assistance system of any of examples 63-65, wherein abehind-ear portion of first hearing assistance device comprises acombination of two or more sub-portions that is different than acombination of two or more sub-portions of the second hearing assistancedevice.

Example 67

A method comprising: detecting, by a portable case of a hearingassistance system, a retention structure of the portable case sharing anelectrical connection with a behind-ear portion of a hearing assistancedevice of the hearing assistance system; charging, by the portable case,a power source of the behind-ear portion; determining, by the portablecase, whether the power source of the behind-ear portion is charged; inresponse to determining that the power source is charged to apredetermined charging level, ceasing, by the portable case, chargingthe power source; and configuring, by the portable case, the retentionstructure to release the behind-ear portion from the portable case.

Example 68

A method comprising: receiving, by a portable case of a hearingassistance system, from an external computing device, first dataaccording to a first communication protocol; sending, by the portablecase, to a behind-ear portion of a hearing assistance device of thehearing assistance system, the first data; receiving, by the portablecase, from the behind-ear portion, second data; and sending, by theportable case, to the external computing device, the second data.

Example 69

The method of example 68, wherein sending the first data comprisessending, by the portable case, to the behind-ear portion, the first dataaccording to the first communication protocol.

Example 70

The method of example 69, wherein receiving the second data comprisesreceiving, by the portable case, from the behind-ear portion, the seconddata according to the first communication protocol.

Example 71

The method of any of examples 68-70, wherein sending the first datacomprises sending, by the portable case, to the behind-ear portion, thefirst data according to a second communication protocol that isdifferent than the first communication protocol.

Example 72

The method of example 71, wherein receiving the second data comprisesreceiving, by the portable case, from the behind-ear portion, the seconddata according to the second communication protocol.

Example 73

A method comprising: receiving, by a behind-ear portion of a hearingassistance device of a hearing assistance system, from a portable caseof the hearing assistance system, first data; and generating, by thebehind-ear portion, based on the first data, second data in response toperforming an operation based on the first data.

Example 74

The method example 73, further comprising: sending, by the behind-earportion, to at least one in-ear portion of the hearing assistancesystem.

Example 75

The method of example 74, wherein the at least one in-ear portion of thehearing assistance system includes at least one of: an in-ear portion ofthe hearing assistance device or an in-ear portion of a differenthearing assistance device.

Example 76

The method of any of examples 74-75, wherein: the first data is receivedaccording to a first communication protocol; and the second data is sentaccording to a second communication protocol.

Example 77

The method of example 76, wherein the first communication protocol andthe second communication protocol are corresponding communicationprotocols.

Example 78

The method of any of examples 76-77, wherein the first communicationprotocol and the second communication protocol are differentcommunication protocols.

Example 79

A method comprising: receiving, by a behind-ear portion of a hearingassistance device of a hearing assistance system, from at least onein-ear portion of the hearing assistance system, first data; andperforming, by the behind-ear portion, an operation based on the firstdata.

Example 80

The method of example 79, wherein the at least one in-ear portion of thehearing assistance system includes at least one of: an in-ear portion ofthe hearing assistance device or an in-ear portion of a differenthearing assistance device.

Example 81

The method of any of examples 79-80, further comprising: sending, by thebehind-ear portion, to a portable case of the hearing assistance system,fourth data generated in response to performing the operation based onthe first data.

Example 82

The method of example 80, wherein: the first data is received accordingto a first communication protocol; and the second data is sent accordingto a second communication protocol.

Example 83

The method of example 82, wherein the first communication protocol andthe second communication protocol are corresponding communicationprotocols.

Example 84

The method of any of examples 82-83, wherein the first communicationprotocol and the second communication protocol are differentcommunication protocols.

Example 85

A method comprising: receiving, by an in-ear portion of a hearingassistance device of a hearing assistance system, from a behind-earportion of the hearing assistance device, first data; performing, by thein-ear portion, an operation; generating, by the in-ear portion, seconddata in response to performing the operation; and sending, by the in-earportion, to the behind-ear portion, the second data.

Example 86

The method of example 85, wherein the first data is received, and thesecond data is sent, according to a wireless intra or inter body networkprotocol.

Example 87

A system comprising means for performing any one of the methods of anyof examples 67-86.

Example 88

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprisinginstructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to anyone of the methods of any of examples 67-86.

Example 89

A method for performing any of the operations described in thisdisclosure.

Example 90

A device or system comprising components configured to perform any ofthe operations described in this disclosure.

It is to be recognized that depending on the example, certain acts orevents of any of the techniques described herein can be performed in adifferent sequence, may be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g.,not all described acts or events are necessary for the practice of thetechniques). Moreover, in certain examples, acts or events may beperformed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors, rather than sequentially.

In one or more examples, the functions described may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implementedin software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over, as oneor more instructions or code, a computer-readable medium and executed bya hardware-based processing unit. Computer-readable media may includecomputer-readable storage media, which corresponds to a tangible mediumsuch as data storage media, or communication media including any mediumthat facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place toanother, e.g., according to a communication protocol. In this manner,computer-readable media generally may correspond to (1) tangiblecomputer-readable storage media which is non-transitory or (2) acommunication medium such as a signal or carrier wave. Data storagemedia may be any available media that can be accessed by one or morecomputers or one or more processing circuits to retrieve instructions,code and/or data structures for implementation of the techniquesdescribed in this disclosure. A computer program product may include acomputer-readable medium.

By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable storagemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, flashmemory, cache memory, or any other medium that can be used to storedesired program code in the form of instructions or data structures andthat can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection may beconsidered a computer-readable medium. For example, if instructions aretransmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. It should be understood, however,that computer-readable storage media and data storage media do notinclude connections, carrier waves, signals, or other transient media,but are instead directed to non-transitory, tangible storage media.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

Functionality described in this disclosure may be performed by fixedfunction and/or programmable processing circuitry. For instance,instructions may be executed by fixed function and/or programmableprocessing circuitry. Such processing circuitry may include one or moreprocessors, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs),general purpose microprocessors, application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), field programmable logic arrays (FPGAs), or otherequivalent integrated or discrete logic circuitry. Accordingly, the term“processor,” as used herein may refer to any of the foregoing structureor any other structure suitable for implementation of the techniquesdescribed herein. In addition, in some aspects, the functionalitydescribed herein may be provided within dedicated hardware and/orsoftware modules. Also, the techniques could be fully implemented in oneor more circuits or logic elements. Processing circuits may be coupledto other components in various ways. For example, a processing circuitmay be coupled to other components via an internal device interconnect,a wired or wireless network connection, or another communication medium.

Various components, modules, or units are described in this disclosureto emphasize functional aspects of devices configured to perform thedisclosed techniques, but do not necessarily require realization bydifferent hardware units. Rather, as described above, various units maybe combined in a hardware unit or provided by a collection ofinteroperative hardware units, including one or more processors asdescribed above, in conjunction with suitable software and/or firmware.

Various examples have been described. These and other examples arewithin the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hearing assistance device comprising: a behind-ear portion comprising a rechargeable energy source and at least one processor; an in-ear portion comprising at least one processor, a microphone, and a speaker; and a tether configured to transmit electrical energy from the rechargeable energy source to the in-ear portion and communicatively couple the at least one processor of the behind-ear portion with the at least one processor of the in-ear portion, wherein the at least one processor of the behind-ear portion and the at least one processor of the in-ear portion communicate via the tether using a first communication protocol and the at least one processor of the behind-ear portion and at least one processor of an external computing device communicate outside the tether using a second communication protocol that is different than or same as the first communication protocol.
 2. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the in-ear portion is permanently attached to the tether and the behind-ear portion is detachable from the tether.
 3. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the in-ear portion comprises an attachment feature configured to couple to a corresponding attachment feature of the tether.
 4. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the behind-ear portion comprises an attachment feature configured to couple to a corresponding attachment feature of the tether.
 5. The hearing assistance device of claim 4, wherein the attachment feature of the behind-ear portion comprises at least one of mechanical features, magnetic features, or electro-magnetic features.
 6. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the attachment feature includes two or more electrical contacts configured to conduct, via the tether, electrical current between the rechargeable energy source of the behind-ear portion and the one or more components of the in-ear portion.
 7. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, further comprising two or more electrical contacts configured to conduct electrical current between the rechargeable energy source of the behind-ear portion and charging circuitry of a portable case for storing and charging the hearing assistance device.
 8. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the in-ear portion is configured to generate sound for hearing by a user.
 9. The hearing assistance device of claim 8, wherein the in-ear portion is configured to generate sound for hearing by the user when disconnected from the tether.
 10. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the in-ear portion comprises an internal energy source.
 11. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the behind-ear portion comprises at least one of a sensor, a microphone, or a communication radio configured to receive input.
 12. The hearing assistance device of claim 11, wherein the behind-ear portion is configured to operate as one or more of: a remote microphone unit that outputs audio data detected by the microphone; a remote sensor unit that outputs sensor data detected by the sensor; or a communication radio unit that outputs radio data detected by the communication radio unit.
 13. The hearing assistance device of claim 12, wherein the behind-ear portion is configured to operate as the one or more of the remote microphone unit, the remote sensor unit, or the communication radio unit, when the behind-ear portion is detached from the tether.
 14. The hearing assistance device of claim 12, wherein the behind-ear portion is configured to communicate wirelessly with an external computing device comprising one or more of a portable case, a mobile phone, or another hearing assistance device.
 15. The hearing assistance device of claim 1, wherein the behind-ear portion comprises two or more sub-portions, wherein at least one of the two or more sub-portions is operatively coupled, via the tether, to the in-ear portion, each of the two or more sub-portions being attachable to, and detachable from, at least one other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.
 16. The hearing assistance device of claim 15, wherein a single sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions contains the rechargeable energy source.
 17. The hearing assistance device of claim 15, wherein each sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is unique in at least one function or structure with respect to each other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.
 18. The hearing assistance device of claim 15, wherein each sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is physically distinct from each other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.
 19. The hearing assistance device of claim 18, wherein each sub-portion of the one or more sub-portions is operatively coupled to at least one other sub-portion from the one or more sub-portions.
 20. The hearing assistance device of claim 19, wherein two or more sub-portions are operatively coupled together via corresponding attachment features comprising at least one of mechanical structures, magnetic structures, or a combination of mechanical structures and magnetic structures.
 21. The hearing assistance device of claim 15, wherein at least one sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is configured to operate independently without being coupled via the tether to the in-ear portion.
 22. A method comprising: communicating, by a behind-ear portion of a hearing assistance device of a hearing assistance system, with an in-ear portion of the hearing assistance device and via a tether that communicatively couples the behind-ear portion of the hearing assistance device to the in-ear portion of the hearing assistance device, first data, wherein the first data is communicated according to a first communication protocol; and communicating, by the behind-ear portion, with at least one external computing device and outside the tether, second data, wherein the second data is communicated according to a second communication protocol that is different than or same as the first communication protocol.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: performing, by the behind-ear portion, based on the first data, an operation; and responsive to performing the operation, generating the second data.
 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the external computing device includes at least one of: an in-ear portion of a different hearing assistance device, a portable case for storing and charging the hearing assistance device, or a mobile computing device.
 25. The method of claim 22, wherein the behind-ear portion comprises two or more sub-portions, wherein at least one of the two or more sub-portions is operatively coupled, via the tether, to the in-ear portion, each of the two or more sub-portions being attachable to, and detachable from, at least one other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein a single sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions contains the rechargeable energy source.
 27. The method of claim 25, wherein each sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is unique in at least one function or structure with respect to each other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.
 28. The method of claim 25, wherein each sub-portion of the two or more sub-portions is physically distinct from each other sub-portion from the two or more sub-portions.
 29. A method comprising: receiving, by an in-ear portion of a hearing assistance device, from a behind-ear portion of the hearing assistance device, first data; performing, by the in-ear portion, an operation; generating, by the in-ear portion, second data in response to performing the operation; and sending, by the in-ear portion, to the behind-ear portion, the second data.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein: receiving the first data comprises receiving the first data according to a wireless intra or inter body network protocol; and sending the second data comprises sending the second data according to the wireless intra or inter body network protocol. 